Mailboy
by Autistic Goldfish
Summary: I started out my journey with my stupid uniform, figuring that the world would be a happy enough place. I thought that maybe I'd be fine with not being a full-fledged trainer and just working as a messenger, delivering everyone's mail. Then, of course, the economy had to collapse, Team Rocket had to take over, and I'd be clueless on what I had to do.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokemon.**

It was a cool, breezy day on Route 1, perfect for all the Pokemon trainers heading out to start their journeys. They would all be on their way to complete the Kanto Gym Circuit and eventually challenge the Elite Four and Champion. Each of them had some rare starter Pokemon that couldn't be found in the wild: a Squirtle, Charmander, or Bulbasaur which was just as excited to go as its trainer. They would make friends, find adventure, catch new Pokemon, and become powerful enough to travel and do whatever they wanted to. They would be given special privileges and join different tournaments and events, win a medal at _something_, and return home with something to be proud of.

There was a small group of five setting out today, with three Charmanders, a Squirtle, and a Bulbasaur. People always seemed to prefer the little fire Pokemon to the others, mainly because its final evolution had come to be a symbol of power and achievement since the Champion, Lance, trained one. I, personally, thought that a Bulbasaur would be much better. As a plant Pokemon, they could easily put anything to sleep before mercilessly employing various spores to sap their enemy's energy and will to fight.

Of course, I didn't get a Bulbasaur. I wasn't a trainer.

I was a messenger.

I wouldn't be fighting Gym Leaders or striving to get stronger. I wouldn't be entering tournaments or becoming a great battler. I wouldn't return to my home in glory.

I would be delivering packages to different important people all over Kanto.

Yeah, sure, I got a Pokemon. But it wasn't anything rare or special.

It was a Pidgey.

I had asked my dad why in Mew's name I would be given a baby Pokemon to help me with my job and how something so small could possibly assist me in any way. I pointed out that I wasn't a trainer; I wouldn't exactly have time to train it between towns. It would've been better to give me something already strong, like a Pidgeot, because my purpose wasn't to learn about raising Pokemon, it was to just make sure everyone had their packages delivered.

He had laughed and said that Pokemon skills _were_ an important part of the job and that if I had gotten a Pidgeot it would eat me alive the first day. I figured that would probably be a better fate than dealing with the humiliation of traveling all over Kanto with this ridiculous messenger jacket and hat.

Due to the apparent difficulty of traveling, you weren't given a full-blown suit for being a mailman. Instead, they provided you with a thick leather bag capable of being stuffed with letters and packages along with a separate section for whatever you yourself would need: clothes and food and such. It would protect its contents from weather, feral Pokemon, and anything else Kanto could throw at you. I actually thought it was a pretty cool bag: dark brown with a few complicated silver clasps designed to keep thieves from easily stealing from it and curious Pokemon from opening it.

The hat and jacket, though, were less than desirable. Both were a dark navy blue, which I guess was alright, but the jacket had golden stripes running down the arms and sides and lining the zipper, which was silver. It was made of a light, breathable material for easy traveling, making it look pretty cheap. There was a large white nameplate with "KANTO MESSENGER" engraved in gold lettering. The hat had a golden stripe around the rim and a silver bill with the same words printed on the front.

You were required to wear the hat at all times, and the jacket you were only spared from wearing on insanely hot days, which Kanto didn't have many of. Our summers peaked at 80 degrees Fahrenheit on the warmest days.

I think that, with this getup, I'd be paid more as a clown than as a delivery person. Especially now, while I was a Junior Messenger. It'd be quite a while before I would be just a regular messenger and be paid more. I needed to be in service for a year, have at least one fully evolved Pokemon, and have the ability to travel all the way from Pallet to Cerulean in less than a week. You could get promoted again if you've been in service three years and can travel that same distance in four or less days. Then there's, of course, applying to become an international mailman, but that's a whole different story.

But, for now, I was a junior, and it was the only way to get out of my house, so I suppose I'll have to deal with it.

I looked over to where the five trainers had been standing moments before. Footprints were all that was left.

I had known a couple of them from school; they were destined to be successful.

I sighed and released the little Pidgey again.

"Gee, gee!" it chirped and I picked it up, setting it on my shoulder.

"Yeah, I suppose we should get going, shouldn't we?" I muttered, heading down the route. The Pidgey leaned on my neck and chirped again.

My first assignment was to deliver a box from Professor Oak to Giovanni, the Viridian City Gym Leader. I was supposed to deliver it by sundown tomorrow. It couldn't be that difficult, could it?

Of course, the moment I finished my thought was the same that a flock of Pidgey took off from the trees and mine decided to try and follow them, but instead of actually flying it just flopped off my shoulder and onto the ground, letting out a loud wail for help, waking up an angry Raticate that was dozing off to the side of the road.

_Actually_, I thought as the Raticate stomped over, _maybe this could get a little ugly._

I quickly recalled what little I knew of these creatures; they were fast and fearless, but overall not very strong. I had no hopes of outrunning it.

"Pidgey," I whispered, squatting down and scooping up the tiny bird. "We gotta try and fight. Come on, calm down."

The baby bird looked up at me, looking pathetic.

"No, no sad eyes. Fight! Be fearless!"

"Pidge, pidgey," it wailed, and I all but screamed as I noticed the Raticate leap at us, fangs bared.

"Use tackle!" I shrieked, and my Pidgey seemed to snap out of its pity party long enough to jump at the oversized rat and peck at it. The Raticate squeaked and was forced to land away from me, which I was more than happy about. But, as it snarled at my only Pokemon, I knew that we had no hope of knocking it out. "Aim for the legs!" I shouted, praying that the little bird understood. "We can outrun it if you can at least mess up one of its legs!"

The Pidgey, though, was a lost cause. It did nothing but peck at the Raticate's head. The tan brute soon got enough of that and turned to snarl at my only Pokemon, who fearlessly bit off a whisker.

The Raticate screeched and fell over, and I took the opportunity to grab the Pidgey off of it and run for it.

_Raticate use their whiskers to balance_, I realized, thinking I had learned something about that in school. I suddenly felt a surge of disbelief and despair. I'd have to dig out everything I knew about Pokemon if I were to survive this job. Unlike trainers, I didn't have the luxury of owning a Pokedex to come to my aid whenever disaster struck.

I didn't stop running, however, until I was halfway down the route and panting hard. I gently returned the Pidgey to my shoulder.

"Pidgey, gee," the bird said cheerfully, and it nuzzled into my neck.

I checked to make sure I had my messenger bag, straightened my hat, and continued walking ahead. Route 1 was the shortest route in Kanto, so I figured I'd arrive in Viridian pretty quickly. Then there was just the matter of finding the gym and delivering the package. After that I'd stop in the Pokemon Center and head back to the mail department and accept anything else that would have to be delivered nearby.

"Hey!" a voice snapped me out of my plans. "I challenge you to a battle!"

I spun around just to see a young boy hugging a Ratatta and running towards me.

"Um, kid, I'm not really a trainer," I said, backing up.

"Then why do you have a Pokemon?" he demanded. He was wearing cargo shorts and an oversized ball cap that drooped to the side of his head, making the scrawny boy look even tinier.

"A companion, and later maybe something to help me deliver mail," I explained. "I mean, I've got the licenses required to keep it and care for it, but I assure you, I am not a trainer and I just left home half an hour ago."

The boy frowned. "Wait, what are you then?"

I scowled. "Are you illiterate?"

"What?"

"Can't you read?"

The boy blinked and scanned me once again, and his eyes widened in shock, as if he just noticed the ridiculous outfit I'm wearing. "You're a mailboy?"

"Yeah, basically. Now, I'd better get going," I said, turning back around. I heard my Pidgey turn back around and give an affronted chirp before settling down again and facing forward.

"Wait!" the boy shouted.

I sighed and turned back around, noting the sun's position in the sky. It was still morning, so perhaps he wouldn't slow me down too much.

"What is it now?" I asked.

The boy huffed. "Someone's moody," he muttered quietly, just loud enough to let me know he wanted me to hear it. "You can still battle, can't you?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure."

He nodded. "Yes. You can. Anyone licensed to own a Pokemon has the right to battle the creatures as long as means of healing them is nearby, unless you're a trainer in which case you have special rights that allow you to battle anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances."

Well. The midget knew what he was talking about.

"Now, as I have quite the collection of potions and berries, you and I can battle!" he concluded cheerfully, and the Ratatta in his arms squeaked as well. "So, once again, I challenge you to a battle!"

I winced. My Pidgey was still just a baby, hatched two days ago according to my dad. There was no way we stood a chance. But the boy seemed eager to battle, and the Ratatta didn't look particularly experienced either, so maybe we weren't too hopeless. Besides, we somewhat took down a Raticate earlier! That had to count for something.

"Okay, I accept your challenge," I hesitantly said.

"Great!" The Ratatta hopped onto the ground, and I picked my Pidgey up off my shoulder and set it on the ground.

"Larry, use tackle!" the boy ordered.

"Peck it!" I ordered my Pidgey, registering that the Ratatta actually had a name.

"Dodge it and try tackling again!"

"Try and jump up into the air!" I commanded, hoping that the bird out on the battlefield had some inkling of what I was saying. It seemed to understand the peck command alright.

The boy frowned as my Pidgey did, indeed, launch itself into the air and land on the Ratatta before pecking its head. I grinned. This battle was actually going pretty well.

"Larry, try shaking it off!" the boy suggested, and the Ratatta quickly obeyed. My Pidgey was tossed off and started squawking pathetically as it tried to stand up. "Now tackle!"

"Sand attack at its eyes, pronto!" I snapped, and my Pidgey quickly obliged, kicking sand up at the charging Ratatta. Sadly, the attack hit anyways.

The boy and I both waited for the dust to clear before the results of the battle were clear.

Both our Pokemon had fainted.

"Oh sheesh," I muttered, but I was glad we hadn't lost. It made me feel somewhat accomplished. I walked over to where my Pidgey lay and gently picked it up as the boy did the same.

"That was a great battle," he said happily, holding his hand out. I shook it.

"That was. You did pretty good," I agreed. I swung my messenger bag around and started rooting around for an Oran berry. "Well, I'd better be off now."

"Wait!"

"What now?" I spun around, still half-occupied looking for a berry.

"I just wanted to ask you if you'd named your Pidgey," he said sheepishly.

"No, I haven't. Why?" I looked up at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Well, if you're going to be traveling with her, I figured she might as well have a name," the boy said, shrugging. "And if you're going to name her, you have to do it soon or she'll never be able to adjust to one from you."

I frowned. I wasn't even aware it was a girl.

"I'll think about it," I said, and continued down the beaten path to Viridian, cradling my Pidgey in my arms.

* * *

Well, that's the start to this story, "Mailboy". I think it's off to a decent start for my first story on here. I also wanted to thank any of you who took the time to read this first chapter, and hopefully you'll like it enough to read the rest of it. This will be quite an adventure for me, and maybe you guys will all enjoy it too.

That's all.

-Goldfish

Edit: I now have a beta! *does happy dance* Menace13 has edited this chapter and fixed all the little errors in it, so it should be cleaner than it was before.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokemon. This is fanwork and I do not profit from it.**

I reached Viridian in the afternoon with my Pidgey fast asleep on my shoulder. At first I was worried the stupid thing would fall off and hurt itself and I would need to spend another half hour searching for medical supplies, but it held on tight.

_Probably dug her talons into my shoulder and left marks_, I thought as I scanned my surroundings.

Viridian City was huge compared to Pallet Town. It was nothing like the cities I'd seen in magazines and brochures with oversized buildings that seemed to touch the sky, but it was a lot bigger than I was used to. I'd been here once before, when I was four, but ten years later I wasn't really impressed. There was no awe-inspiring "Oh my God the world is so big!" moment; it was more of a "Yeah, I really lived in a tiny town," thought.

The smell of coffee drifted from a nearby shop, which I figured I would stop in later. A Pokemart sat nearby with a faded blue roof and a sign missing a couple letters. Standing next to that was an equally rustic-looking Pokemon center. You could see through a window though that the place was fairly busy, with younger and older trainers alike loitering in the lobby. I recalled that Giovanni was the last gym in the circuit, and would only agree to battle those who already possessed the other badges. Then, of course, Victory Road was to the west. Viridian City was also a popular first stopping point for beginning trainers, mainly because of the nearby Viridian Forest, but also just to see everything they would eventually accomplish.

For me, it was the setting for my first mission: deliver a package to Giovanni.

I started down one main street. Job training explained that when in doubt, find the largest street you can and follow it until you find yourself somewhere recognizable. I could easily see why; everything branched off from here.

I continued walking for a while, not really sure of where the gym was, just taking in the sights around me. I would be spending a lot of time in very different environments as a messenger. People were bustling back and forth, but none of the streets were overly crowded. A couple Pokemon were wandering around, some standing next to their obvious human companions, and others by themselves. Young children were chasing Ratatta and the occasional Caterpie that wandered into the streets. My Pidgey remained asleep. I absently wondered what it would be capable of if handed to a real battling trainer—probably nothing special, but enough to get a trainer through their first couple gyms. It wouldn't be considered too much of a threat afterwards. It would still be kept, though; trainers never removed their starter from their party. Emotional bonds were way too strong.

About half an hour later, I ran into a sign stating "GYM" pointing to the left. I went ahead and strolled down the street, keeping note of my surroundings.

It wasn't long before I reached the building. It was large, brown, rusty and plain, with dark windows. A sign outside stated that it was the Viridian Gym, but whatever else was written on it was rather faded. It looked as if someone had vandalized the sign, too.

I hesitantly knocked on the door, receiving an angry shout from the inside. Moments later it swung open, nearly whacking me in the face. I quickly stepped back.

In front of me was the biggest man I had ever seen; he was at least seven feet tall and wearing a dark suit. I craned my neck to see his face, which was currently scowling down at me.

"What do you want?" he demanded, voice booming.

My voice suddenly lost me as I paled. The stupid Pidgey on my shoulder woke up at the loud noise and chirped in fear, and nudged my head, a silent plea to make the giant go away.

"Um… sorry to bother you sir, I have a package…" I squeaked, pulling out my messenger bag. I quickly pulled out the small brown box and offered it to him. "From Professor Oak…"

His face remained in a firm scowl as he plucked it out of my hands. "Good."

With that, he slammed the door with thundering force.

I felt something wet trickle onto my shoulder. It took me a second to realize what it was.

"OH MY ARCEUS, EWWWWWWW!" I shrieked and shoved my Pidgey off my shoulder, returning it to its Pokeball. "That is _disgusting!"_ I shed my jacket quickly and folded it, careful not to touch the sticky, yellow substance on it. I'd have to wash it once I reached the Pokemon center.

"Stupid thing," I muttered, returning the way I came. "A Pidgeot would eat you alive, and you need Pokemon skills," I say mockingly. "Yeah, great decision. The jacket's probably going to have a permanent stain on it now."

It was probably about one o'clock when I finally burst into the Pokemon center and beelined for the laundry room. I dumped my jacket into the nearest empty washing machine, dumped soap in from a nearby dispenser, slammed the thing shut and paid for a quick wash before heading back out to the lobby.

There were still quite a few trainers around, but now that lunch was over it seemed as if most had dispersed, leaving only a few lounging around in chairs. I went ahead and took an open seat, releasing the Pidgey again. It gave a rejected chirp is it formed on the floor.

I sighed as I studied it. Dull brown feathers, pale tan breast, boring expression, boring colors, boring everything.

"Why'd I get stuck with _you_?" I whined, scooping up the pathetic thing. I cautiously set it on my leg. "I should've just left with no Pokemon. You're worthless."

The Pidgey chirped and hopped up onto my shoulder, seemingly unaware of my contempt towards it. It just seemed happy to be off the floor.

"Now, do you really mean that?" a voice asked from behind me. I turned around in the chair to come face-to-face with a guy probably fifteen years old. His eyes were soft and kind, but he had a slight frown on his face. He was wearing a hat with a Psyduck face on it. "Pokemon are our companions, and this one clearly likes you. Do you really think so lowly of it?"

"It peed on my jacket," I stated, wondering why the heck this person cared. "It's stupid."

"You peed yourself when you were a baby, like this Pidgey is," the guy pointed out.

"Yes, but I don't have time to raise it. I have a job," I snapped.

"Quit referring to her as an it. Pokemon are not 'it's, they are our friends," the guy said, looking slightly amused and annoyed. "You haven't been on your journey long, have you?"

I crossed my arms and glared at him. "I left this morning."

"Messenger?"

"Yup."

He seemed to think for a second. "Has this Pidgey done anything wrong other than have an accident on your shoulder? She looks like a good Pokemon to me."

I considered this for a second. "No, not really. I mean, she got in a tie with this one kid in a battle, and didn't really listen to me when I tried to get it—I mean, her—to slow down a Raticate we encountered."

"You seem to be relatively unharmed. Did she stop the Raticate in the end?"

"Kinda, yeah…"

"Then why are you angry? She has done very well for a baby Pokemon to have taken down a Raticate," the guy said. "And getting in a tie? Were you battling an actual trainer?"

"It was some little kid who wouldn't leave us alone."

"See, that's an accomplishment. She's done well. Don't be upset with her; she's not with you. Pokemon take time to train. Don't fret so much over her not obeying everything within five minutes," the guy said and walked off.

I felt the Pidgey rub her face against mine as I considered this.

"…Well, okay then, but it's still your fault there's a pee stain on my jacket," I said accusingly, and headed to the laundry room to see if my jacket was clean.

The next day I woke up in a center room, feeling rather rested and accomplished. My first mission was a huge success; I delivered the package in half the time required. My jacket was clean. I wasn't robbed in my sleep. My Pidgey hadn't had another "accident" during the night.

I grabbed a couple free cookies the Center had sitting out, breaking off a piece for the drowsy Pidgey on my shoulder. It awoke at the smell of the food and nearly snapped off my finger before swallowing it whole.

"Someone likes sweets," I muttered as the little bird tried to grab the remaining cookies left in my hand. I broke off another piece of one and then stuff the other in my mouth before heading to the mail counter. The clerk was a young woman with red hair and a slightly bored expression, which disappeared as I approached.

"Hello," I said, and the Pidgey chirped her greeting as well.

"Hi," the woman responded. "Are you a junior?"

"Yup."

"How long have you been on the job?"

"A day. I just finished my first assignment yesterday afternoon."

She nodded. "Okay. I think this'll be appropriate then, if not a challenge. I have five letters that need to make it to Pewter by July 15th," she explained, pulling five letters out of a bin and handing them to me. "There's also a package here too, but it's pretty heavy. Think you can handle it?"

I shrugged, putting the letters in my bag. "I think I can." She grinned and took out a flat, rectangular box.

"There you go, then. The reason the deadline is so far away is because Viridian Forest is a tricky place to navigate around. My advice: keep medicine and a map on you. Nurse Joy will give you some basic healing items, and because of the close vicinity to the forest the one here also has some treatments for poison, but nothing too strong. There's a forest equipment store a couple blocks away. I'd look into getting something there. Beedrill poison can be pretty nasty stuff. There's also free maps of the forest in its gate. Get one, and just mark the path you're going down on it. You should be in and out of there within a week if you don't get lost."

I nodded, keeping track of all this information and thanked her as I placed the box into my bag. It _was_ a pretty heavy package, but nothing I couldn't handle. I headed out of the center ready to face the world.

* * *

Hello! Short AN: Sorry for the incredibly short chapters; I just don't have that much time to write and make it all high-quality. Thankfully, summer vacation starts next week. Sadly, I won't be able to probably update for another week after that because I'm going to be visiting family. Thank you, those who are reading this story and reviews are highly appreciated. My writing won't get better unless I know what I'm doing wrong. Bye for now!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokemon. This is fanwork and I do not profit from this.**

My first impression of Viridian Forest was it was dark. There was just enough light to make out the trees and the ground to a limited extent, but it was overall just a scary, dark place that made your hair stand on end. All the sounds in it seemed to echo, from the shout of nearby battling trainers to the slightest rustle of the grass. It smelled of pine and was chilly. My Pidgey quietly chirped next to me, huddling closer to my face.

"Well, I guess we have no choice but to move forward," I whispered, and gently took a step in the aforementioned direction. I was seriously considering turning back though, and returning to that store to buy a flashlight. However, that option was killed as soon as a loud shriek rang out and my Pidgey took off from my shoulder, flying away.

I stood in silence for a few seconds, just contemplating what happened.

I was now Pokémon-less in a giant, terrifying forest filled with bugs and who knows what, and if I didn't get going within the next five seconds my Pidgey would probably be gone for good.

Swallowing, I took off running in the only direction I heard faint flapping coming from, focused on nothing other than finding my bird.

My heart was pounding in my chest as I did so; there was _no way_ I could survive this forest alone. I needed that stupid feathered thing, if nothing other than to have _something_ to throw between me and wild Weedle.

Thankfully, it wasn't really that long before I found her, a chirping, screaming mess at the bottom of a tree. I fell to my knees and let out a sob of relief as I scooped her up, squinting at her to make sure that it was the same Pidgey I had received two days ago. To be even more certain, I pulled out her Pokeball, recalled her, and then let her back out.

I let out a small sob of relief as I returned her to my shoulder. She had quieted down now, and snuggled into her perch, resting her head against my neck.

I took a few breaths as the adrenaline disappeared from my blood, and looked around.

Nothing was familiar. Just trees and darkness.

I fought back the urge to swear as I turned around in a full circle, trying to remember what direction I had come from. Grass was trampled everywhere as far as I could tell, so that'd be no use. No torn brush and too many footsteps from humans and Pokémon alike to decipher which were mine. I took a deep breath and picked a random direction to walk in.

I mentally berated myself; I could've returned, gotten a flashlight, and then come back to find the Pidgey. She could've defended herself for however long if need be, and it wouldn't be THAT big of a deal if she was gone forever.

_Yes, it would_, a small voice said in the back of my mind. _She's important to you._

_Well, that just proves how you, dear conscious, aren't right all the time. There was no way that fluff ball rubbing against my neck means anything to me, _I thought back angrily. _Remember Bulbasaur? That Pokémon you wanted so much before? Yeah. If you had one of those, you might care. But this thing? Nope._

My Pidgey chirped and my resolve crumbled. Okay, maybe the little thing wasn't_ too_ pathetic.

We continued wandering for a while. I guessed we continued moving at a leisurely trot for about an hour, but I couldn't be too sure without the sun overhead. Either way, we had just discovered a river when another shriek rang out, similar to the one we heard at the start of the forest. My hand shot up and grabbed my Pidgey just before she took off again. This time it sounded, much, much closer.

I paused, taking very shaky breaths. The forest seemed to quiet for a second, and nothing else was heard. I inhaled deeply before continuing down my new path by the river. I couldn't tell whether or not I was heading towards the source of the noise or not; it had seem to come from everywhere at once.

It wasn't long before my walk turned to a run, and I plucked the Pidgey off my shoulder to cling it to my chest. I swore I heard an odd sound, somewhat resembling the sound of stones smacking against each other, echo from behind me. I was terrified to the bone; my insides felt like they were frozen as I sprinted alongside the river. I had no idea whether or not I was going in the right direction, but my only thought was to get away.

Suddenly, images flooded my mind. I no longer felt cold as heat seeped into my bones from a hot desert sun. I wasn't me anymore; I wasn't carrying my Pidgey. I was carrying something small and golden, and wearing a crown. Layers of robes were draped around my shoulders, flying behind me as a cape. People were behind me, yelling and screaming, bearing knives and pitchforks. I instantly knew that they shouldn't be there, for reasons other than the obvious. And _it_ knew too, whatever it was. Something with an ancient presence, that could move with absolute speed and grace. Zigzagged lines crossed its body, and it just turned its eyes on me when-

It all disappeared. I was back in the forest, my feet still pounding against the riverbank. The warmth disappeared; I was still carrying my Pidgey. Something blurs in front of me and I crash into it, full-force, before falling back onto my butt, eyes squeezed shut as I hold my Pidgey closer to my chest. It answers by snuggling closer; it was just as scared as I was.

I sat there for a minute, shaking, before mustering up the courage to crack one eye open, before opening both of them and letting out a blood-curdling scream.

In front of me was some sort of _monster_, with three orange eyes fixed on me. It had a brown, barrel ball thing for a body with a dark zigzag across its front, with two of those orange eyes spaced apart on it. Black, fork-like arms hug from either side of it, just below giant, green wings tipped with dark red. They weren't normal wings, though; it was as if someone had removed the webbing and skin from them and just left the bones that stuck out, along with the blood vessels connecting them. The same went for the strange limb hanging under the creature. Its third eye sat on a black stalk above its body.

It kept staring at me, and me back at it with morbid fascination. My voice went silent as it hovered closer to me; my mouth remained gaping open, trying to produce some sort of noise.

Another image flashed in my mind; this same creature, once again in a hot desert, bowing down. I was sitting on a throne this time, with giant, fiery insects on either side of me.

The image disappeared and I was once again back in the real world, and this creature was now facing towards the ground, in an awkward sort of bow.

I gulped, closing my mouth. What was I supposed to do now?

The creature didn't move as I stood up and carefully backed away. I stared at it for a second longer before turning my back on it and running as fast as I could away from it.

I didn't see it again for the rest of the day, but I could've sworn that the sound of rocks rolling through caves followed me wherever I went.

I decided that it was evening when my legs were too tired to move anymore, so I set up camp near the river. I couldn't start a fire due to the dampness of everything nearby, and I had to feel around my bag to find a bag of chips to much on, sparing a few for my bird companion. It didn't take long for us to roll out a sleeping bag and drift off to the world of dreams.

Morning arrived with three orange eyes staring me down and the bony, wing-like limbs pinning me down to the ground, and my Pidgey cowering behind my neck.

I was about to scream when images flooded through my mind once again. This time I was still in Viridian Forest, but instead of running away from the monster, I _was_ the monster, chasing after me. I could see myself desperately fleeing, feet leaving hard indentations on the muddy soil. The scene quickly changed, so that now I was chasing someone through the desert. The person was wearing robes that flew behind them like a cape, and their feet barely touched the ground, far more graceful than I was. The scene changed again to show me sleeping on my sleeping bag; my eyes, squeezed shut, sandy blonde hair sticking out in all sorts of directions. Then I saw the person who was running in the desert, sleeping on a giant king bed with silken sheets. Their skin was tan and hair dark, with a serene expression on their face.

I frowned as the scene melted and the creature stayed put. Slowly my fear started to melt away, and was instead replaced by indignation.

"Are you insulting me?" I demanded, glaring at the monster. "Look, just because I don't run like a freaking Rapidash and sleep like Sleeping Beauty doesn't give you the right to make fun of me, you ugly brute!"

A wave of frustration that was most certainly not my own washed over me. I took a deep breath as the creature sent more images to my mind.

This time I was being bowed down to, as I was yesterday when I ran into the creature.

"Okay, so… you're not insulting me," I said as the image dissolved.

The creature seemed to agree.

"…You're… showing me how I can improve myself?"

Disagreement seemed to stab at my eye. I winced.

"Um… Are you planning on hurting me or anything?" Might as well get that figured out now.

The creature seemed to shake its body, similar to how someone would shake their head "no".

"Okay then. Uh, can I get up?"

The creature backed off and I stood up, picking up my Pidgey, who seemed relatively okay other than the terrified expression on her face.

"Well," I informed the creature, "I have to get to the next city to deliver mail. I'm certain you're here for a very important reason, but I gotta go. You can come with if you want, and I can keep trying to guess what you want, but I wouldn't keep your hopes to high. I suck at guessing games."

And with that, the monster that I had spent all of yesterday running from became a somewhat-companion as I packed everything up and looked for some sign to inform me of which way to go. It took some wandering, but I eventually found a somewhat-worn down path.

My Pidgey eventually grew accustomed to the beast hovering next to us and started chirping at it after a while. The creature responded with some sort of growl, just like the noise it made yesterday that sounded like rocks clacking against each other. They got in a rather animated conversation while I thought about what it could possibly want.

"Um… any more hints?" I asked a while later, when my Pidgey had fallen back asleep.

A feeling of desperation washed over me, and another vision stabbed its way into my mind.

The person from the desert was sleeping again, but it seemed as if there was something else there. Not human, not Pokémon, but very much living. It was invisible, but definitely there. It was something sought after, but found in everyone, in many different forms. It was warm and fuzzy, but cold and betraying.

I had a strong feeling it was love.

Then the picture changed and I saw myself walking through the forest along the riverbank, a panicked expression on my face. Fear was visible all around the walking me, but around whatever I was watching, there was love again.

The images dispersed and I was walking again, side-by-side with the creature.

"You love me?" I asked, slightly disturbed.

The creature seemed to sag.

"Is that a yes or a no?"

The creature shook itself.

"No?"

It bounced up and down and shook at the same time.

"Okay, I have no idea what that means," I explained in frustration, kicking a nearby rock.

A picture of a puzzle piece invaded my mind before quickly disappearing.

"A… piece. Part of a puzzle. Um…" I thought about it. "You love part of me?"

The creature growled.

"I'll take that as a no… You love me, and that's _part_ of the reason you're here?"

The creature stayed quiet for a while before shaking itself. Nope.

"Well, let's get a few things straight. You loved that one person from the desert?"

A nod of agreement.

"Romantically?"

It shook itself.

"Platonically."

Another nod. I sighed in relief; the other way would just be creepy.

"You love me?"

It shook itself again.

"I'm the opposite of the person you loved?"

It shook itself.

I gave up for the time being and we walked (or flew) in silence. The forest didn't seem quite as dark today, and I started to notice all the bugs crawling around in the trees. I easily identified Metapod hanging from tall branches up above, waiting to evolve, along with the occasional Weedle munching on leaves and berries. I was careful to keep my distance from the poisonous caterpillars, though. I had heard more than enough horror stories of trainers poisoned in the middle of Viridian with no medicine to keep them going. I subconsciously reached down to my messenger bag, where I knew there was all the healing equipment I needed to stay strong.

A few hours later I stopped for lunch, and poked my Pidgey to wake her up. She squeaked and happily fluttered down to my lap as I dug through my bag for food, coming up with some bread and nuts, which we shared. The other creature disappeared, presumably to find a meal of its own. That was more than fine with me; the last thing I needed was to have it staring me down while I ate.

I allowed my mind to drift as we rested, just the Pidgey and me. The creature following us must be some sort of psychic Pokémon, if the images were anything to go by. I faintly remembered some sort of painting done on some similar creature from my humanities class. The painting was an example of Pokémon art from some other region, except for the colors was different or something like that. It probably came from a desert, too, if the memories were anything to go by.

Well, I had never heard of a flying psychic Pokémon that lived in a desert, so I supposed I might as well give up trying to figure out what it was.

I packed everything up and returned my Pidgey, who had started pecking at the ground, to my shoulder and continued on my merry way down the path. The creature was nowhere in sight, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

We continued on for another half hour before said creature came swooping down from the trees and tackled the both of us to the ground, causing me to scream before realizing who it was. My Pidgey glared up at it as if to say "Really?" before snuggling into my head.

I was really starting to wonder why that stupid bird liked me so much.

Our small group was reunited, and continued in silence. It wasn't very long before we reached a gate leading out of the forest.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a week-long journey?" I asked nobody in particular as I pushed it open. I guessed I had found some shortcut or something. Beyond it was an oddly familiar route, which was just a quick walk down before I reached a city.

Not Pewter City.

Viridian City.

"Moltres!" I swore, glaring at it. "I went in the wrong freaking direction!"

The Pidgey on my shoulder flinched at my shouting before angrily adding its outraged chirps. I had a feeling it actually had no idea what was happening, though.

The creature next to me let out a humored growl as I stomped around, cursing and swearing. I had wasted two entire days for nothing.

"Well," I said once I finally calmed down, "I suppose I might as well bring a flashlight this time around."

The city was just as I remembered it; though this time I wasn't staying half as long. I got a lot of odd stares, though, probably because of the creature with me. Nobody said anything, but I could tell it made them uncomfortable. That was completely understandable, of course, as the thing was by no means beautiful and made the oddest noises as we walked around. It wasn't long before we reached the traveler's shop, which I entered just fifteen minutes before they closed.

They didn't have much for flashlights, so I just grabbed one that would recharge itself if shaken.

The cashier regarded me with some interest as I handed it to him.

"And that'll be all?" he asked, clicking something on the computer.

"Yeah. That's it," I answered.

"If you don't mind me asking, though," he said as the receipt printed, "where'd you get that Sigilyph?"

"Sigilyph?" I asked, slightly confused. "Wait; is _that_ what that thing's called?" I pointed at the creature floating behind me.

"You didn't know? Yeah. They come from Unova. They're supposed to be ancient guardians of some desert castle there or something," the guy explained. "Except for they aren't usually that color. I think it's shiny."

"Shiny?" I asked, even more astonished. "Seriously?" I wheeled around to stare at the creature with even more wonder. "You never bothered to tell me this?"

The Sigilyph seemed to shrug.

"You communicate with it?" the cashier asked, even more impressed. "And you didn't even know it was shiny, a Sigilyph, or anything?"

"Well, I knew it was psychic," I explained. "And we don't really talk. It just sends images and stuff to me."

The guy seemed really, really impressed now. "Can I buy it from you?"

Okay, that caught me off-guard. "What?"

"Can I buy it from you?" he repeated. "It's rare enough to find a Unovan Pokémon outside Unova, let alone a shiny one. Psychics are also rare, no matter where you are, making this an insanely valuable Pokémon."

I shrugged, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable. "Well, it's not really mine…"

"It seems to like you enough. You can easily catch it and then sell it."

"Yeah, but…" I really wasn't sure what to say. If it was as valuable as this guy was making it seem like, I could probably quit this stupid job here and now and just bring the money I got from the sale home. But something just didn't seem right about getting rid of the odd creature. "Um… Can I think about it?"

"Sure. You'll be in town tomorrow?" the guy asked.

"Well, I don't think it's smart to return to Viridian at night, so yeah. I'll stop by tomorrow morning if I decide to take up your offer, okay?" I left before he could even respond, the Sigilyph right on my heels.

We hurried back to the Pokemon Center, and I all but forced our way up to the healing counter. It was rather busy now that it was evening again, with trainers all scrambling to check out a room.

"Nurse Joy?" I asked nervously. The kind, pink-haired lady smiled down at me.

"Yes?"

"Um, my Pokemon don't need to be healed, but… I have a question," I explained.

"Sure."

"What Pokemon is this?" I asked, pointing to the Sigilyph. I had to be certain.

"Honey, I believe that's a Sigilyph. A shiny one, to be exact," she said.

I paled slightly. "Okay then. Do you know anything else about them?"

She nodded. "Sigilyph are native to Unova's desert resort. They were the guardians of the ancient Relic Castle. Some of them befriended royalty, but their main purpose was to defend. Right now they identify as psychic and flying type."

"Okay then… Thanks." With that, I proceeded to check out one of the few remaining rooms for the night and escape to the comfort and quiet of the small area.

"So, you befriend royalty?" I asked the Sigilyph as I sat on the bed. I shed my jacket, hat and bag and gently placed my Pidgey on my bed.

The psychic nodded in agreement.

"Does that make me royalty?"

It shook itself vigorously.

"Wow, that makes me feel great about myself," I said sarcastically. "Why are you following me then? Do I have some connection to that person you showed me?"

It seemed to shrug.

"Do I remind you of them?" I asked.

Bingo. The Sigilyph nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay… I'm not exactly sure _how_ I remind you of them, considering they were uber-graceful and stuff, but… Onto a different subject. Can I sell you?"

The Sigilyph let out a low growl.

"I'll take that as a no, then," I said awkwardly. "How'd you end up over here anyways?"

Visions immediately started to attack my mind. Suddenly I was in the Desert Resort, except it wasn't like it was before. There was a constant sandstorm, and it seemed as if there were a bunch of statues glowing nearby. Part of what looked like a wall stuck up nearby. Sigilyph, different colors from the one that was with me, were flying down a path, all letting out mournful moans in the saddest voice you could imagine, as if they were just echoes of the past. It continued like this for quite a while before a helicopter beat down and landed nearby. People in dark clothing hopped out, and released what I recognized as Electabuzz and Mareep, who let out electric shocks, knocking out a lot of the Sigilyph. A zap hit me, knocking me out.

A new story came up. Now I was in a dark building, surrounded by metal and concrete. I was being lead away by the dark-dressed people.

Then, suddenly the scene changed. I was outside, but still confined. Desperation filled me; I _had_ to escape, to guard the royalty, the ancient city. I felt the call of the Sigilyph around me and together we all broke free from our chains, taking to the sky at once. The dark-dressed people below could do nothing as we flew out together.

We flew for hours before a helicopter appeared, and we all scattered. I found Viridian Woods and chose to hide there.

It all melted away and once again I sat on the bed, staring at the creature in front of me.

I took a moment to process all of that while my Pidgey hopped into my lap.

"So… poachers?" I asked.

The Sigilyph shook.

"That's what it seemed like. Something similar to poachers?"

A shrug.

"Then I'll go with that. But that sucks though. Are you still trying to return to your city?"

A nod.

"I don't know if I can help you with that. I'm kinda confined to Kanto for the time being," I explained, gesturing to my messenger uniform.

The Sigilyph sagged and hovered over to me, gently resting one of its odd wings on my shoulder.

"You can still travel with me though. I can't do much for you, but we'll see what happens, okay?" I said, reaching out to stroke its body. It was cool, and felt like dried leather. It seemed to be satisfied by that and floated away.

I laid on the bed in silence for a while, gently stroking the Pidgey on my chest. I thought about my journey so far, and absently wondered if everyone else went through such insane events too.

I remembered the little boy I battled on my first day; that felt like it happened a week ago, when in reality it had just been two days.

He had recommended I name my Pokemon.

I looked down at my Pidgey, who had fallen asleep on my chest, and sighed. I still hadn't gotten around to that, had I?

I felt myself drifting off to sleep and figured I should see if I could do that tomorrow.

* * *

Okay, semi-long A/N here. I am seriously proud of myself; I got majority of my studying in yesterday for finals, and just skimmed through everything today, so I think I'm good to go, which left me hours of nothing-time. The, ka-bam! Writing inspiration in the form of my dog sleeping on the deck! (Yeah, I don't get how it works either.) So then I was able to write out this chapter, which actually reached a semi-decent length, and introduced probably one of my favorite characters in it. Though I'm wondering if I'm moving too fast through the storyline... I mean, there is a LOT to go, but I was planning on dragging out the relationship building between the main character and the Pidgey a bit longer, but then I realized that I'm going to have to name the Pidgey SOON or it's going to be awkward referring to her by a different name. Then, of course, Sigilyph kind of gets in the way of all that beautiful bonding time... I dunno. I'm trying. I'll get better as I write more, I promise.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokémon. This is fanwork and I do not profit from this.**

I had left town early the next morning, not bothering to check in with the traveler's store. Viridian Forest had welcomed me in again with fog and coldness and a herd of Caterpie. It wasn't long after I had somehow made it through the stampeding bugs that a branch whacked me in the face. Then, of course, a wild something decided to poo on my hat. The Sigilyph had wandered off about five minutes after we had entered the forest, leaving me to face the dangers of tripping and falling into poison ivy, nearly losing my Pidgey twice, and sneaking around a sleeping Weepinbell. I silently wished the odd creature would return to me soon; the world seemed rather lonely without it there.

Between danger and missing the Sigilyph, I spent my time considering names for my Pidgey. It was popular for trainers to name Pokémon based on certain characteristics they had, but calling her "Beak" or "Feathers" wasn't exactly cutting it for me. "Wimp", as accurate as it was, didn't seem like the right name either. My older sister had a Flareon named Flare, but the name Pidge just sounded stupid. Plus, my sister moved to Unova to take part in musicals. Instead of doing something cool, like being a trainer or coordinator, she chose _musicals_. No way was I going to follow her lead in anything Pokémon-related.

I angrily kicked a pinecone down the path. She and my mom had left four years ago, leaving an eight year-old me and my dad behind. They visited when they could, but for the most part they were gone. It was because Kanto was running so low on jobs, they had said. They needed to support the family somehow.

I had been expecting a divorce, but my mom and dad still remained married. They still loved each other more than anything; that much was obvious when she visited. She sent checks.

But she had left me and my dad behind.

_And you left your dad behind, too,_ a little voice in my head whispered. _You're just as bad as her and your sister_._ You broke your promise. You left someone._

_I had no choice,_ I argued back.

_Sure._

I didn't even realize I was crying until my Pidgey gently rubbed her head against my face.

"It's okay," I said, and pulled her off my shoulder to examine her. "I'm fine. You need a name, though."

"Pidg-eeee!" she trilled, as if agreeing.

"How about…" I trailed off, considering what would really suit her.

She had no interesting parts in her actual name, she had no interesting attributes, and she was a rather pathetic battler, but…

I shrugged, and just set her back on my shoulder. She was kind of sweet, I guess. Sweetie or sugar sounded like a name for a lover though, which was just… ew.

"Alise?" I ventured. The little bird chirped. "Alise," I repeated. It sounded right. "Your name is Alise now," I informed her.

Alise chirped again and happily settled down in the crook of my neck.

I continued on, feeling rather accomplished.

Of course, I ended up tripping over a tree root and landing face-first into a prickly berry bush moments later.

The Sigilyph reappeared for lunch, and afterwards followed me as I continued towards Pewter. It was eerily silent as it stared at me.

I did my best to ignore it in all its creepiness and continue forward, but I was still grateful it had returned.

I set up camp hours later, and had a rather uneventful night, followed by an uneventful day, followed by another uneventful night.

I couldn't see how my journey could get any more boring until the fourth day of my journey through Viridian, when a swarm of Venomoth flocked overhead, followed by multiple gunshots.

Psychic force threw me against the ground, and the last thing I saw was the Sigilyph staring down at me.

I didn't know how long it was before I woke up to water being dunked on my head. I shot up, immediately checking my surroundings. The Sigilyph hovered mere inches from my head. Alise dozed away on a pile of leaves. The path I had been following before was nearby, as was my map and bag.

"What happened?" I demanded, still slightly panicked.

The Sigilyph shrugged, as if it had nothing to say.

"Was anyone hurt?"

It looked over at a tree, and I spotted a Venomoth corpse rotting away in the upper branches. I flinched as I noticed the bullet hole through its abdomen; it was rather bloody. I could faintly smell its rancid poison drifting through the air.

"Nobody has come for it?"

The Sigilyph shrugged, and I scooped up Alise and the messenger bag. I felt rather uncomfortable leaving the Venomoth corpse behind, but there was no way I could get it down from the tree, and if I did I'd have no means of carrying it. I didn't exactly know the thing when it was alive, anyways.

But still…

I shook my thoughts away and we continued on, but I noticed the Sigilyph constantly looking around, as if making sure nobody else was around to cause harm.

Two days later, I reached Pewter. I checked the calendar, and was rather relieved to discover that I still had a couple days left to deliver the letters and package.

But, as it was early evening, I decided to get some food first.

A shabby little Hoennese restaurant caught my attention, and I happily treated myself to roasted Mareep.

The atmosphere was happy and busy, despite the restaurant's obvious state of disrepair. People bustled in and out, and the smell of food and alcohol was overwhelming.

There was a small group who stood out, though. They were seated at the table behind me, all dressed in black, muttering under their breaths about something. They looked rather angry, and eventually one of them slammed his fists on the table before storming out.

Nobody noticed the door slam.

I watched the group for a while longer. Something seemed eerily familiar about them, but I couldn't figure out exactly what.

I paid and left for the Pokémon Center a while later. I'd deliver the stuff tomorrow; I was exhausted and sleeping in an actual bed sounded rather nice.

It was hard to convince myself to get out of bed the next morning, but I did. There were a few things I had to attend to.

I was careful to make sure that Alise and the Sigilyph were still asleep before slipping into the bathroom with my messenger bag. I pulled out a smaller bag of toiletries and pulled out a contacts case before carefully pulling my current lenses off my eyes. I then switched them out with the contacts in the case.

It had taken quite a long time, but I had convinced my dad to get me two pairs of contacts, so I'd never have to go without them. Not even when I slept.

He had told me that people wouldn't judge me if I didn't wear them. After all, I didn't even need them to see; my eyesight was fine. He said it was a waste of money.

School had taught me otherwise. He finally caved when he saw a band of bullies chase me home, calling me a freak.

I winced as I looked in the mirror. My hair needed to be dyed again, too.

I carefully placed my other pair of contacts on my eyes. I figured I could go another few weeks without changing them; they were some of the best on the market in terms of staying uninfected.

With that task done, I pulled out my hair dye. This always took longer to do, but it was almost as necessary as the contacts.

I went ahead and rubbed Vaseline into my hair to stop it from staining. I honestly couldn't care less if the dye permanently changed my hair, but when my mom was still here she insisted that I never permanently damage my hair. She said it was beautiful the way it was.

I had always talked back and told her the word was "handsome" for guys, and my hair was just scary to look at.

I followed the rest of the dying procedure and showered.

I made sure to carefully put all my things back in the messenger bag, and checked how I looked in the mirror.

I looked normal now. My eyes appeared dark brown, my hair nearly black. My skin was pale, but there was nothing I could do about that.

I walked out of the bathroom with confidence.

Nobody would be making fun of the red-eyed, white-haired albino boy today.

* * *

It didn't take much time to deliver all the letters, but the package was giving me some trouble. There apparently wasn't a Dr. Zager working in the museum anymore. He was leaving Pewter soon, but nobody knew where he lived. I did get quite a few questions about the Sigilyph trailing behind me, though. Most of which I just answered with "It's complicated." I got the impression that the said psychic wouldn't appreciate me telling its story of the poachers and the desert prince to everyone I saw.

I eventually returned to the post counter in the Pokémon Center and asked where Zager lived. I explained that the only address on the box was the Pewter Museum, but he wasn't there.

The woman looked him up in the database, and informed me that he lived in the outskirts of the town near the route heading towards Mt. Moon. I thanked her and left.

It took quite a while to reach the house that was supposedly his, and I wasn't sure whether or not I was right. It was a run-down trailer home that stunk like rotten eggs and acid. If he was a _Dr_. Zager, couldn't he afford something a little classier? I raised my hand to knock, and then paused.

"Sigilyph, I think it'd be safest if you hid," I said, turning to face the psychic. "I don't like the look of this, and you're rare and stuff, so…"

It flew off without a word, and I turned around and knocked on the door.

"Yes?" the door flung open, and I barely stepped back in time to avoid getting smacked by it. The man behind it was short and squattish, with a scraggly white mustache and hair. He wore a thick pair of glasses over eyes with dark bags under them. His face was all wrinkly, and he wore a lab coat that might've once been white, but now was covered with all sorts of stains.

"Um… I have a package for you," I said dumbly, reaching into my bag and pulling it out.

He scowled down at me before grabbing the package and reading the address on it.

"This has the Pewter Museum address. How'd you know to bring it here?" he demanded.

I paled and resisted the urge to run away. This guy was terrifying. "Um… I went to the Museum and they said you didn't work there anymore, so I went to the post counter and looked your address up in the system," I babbled.

"I was going to be at the museum up in two days to pick it up," he snapped. "You didn't have to bring it here."

I wilted under his gaze. "Sorry sir. It's standard procedure to look up the address to ensure mail gets delivered."

He sniffed. "How'd my address get in the system anyways?"

"We run a monthly check and stay informed via real estate companies to know when people move," I all but squeak.

"Take it out."

"I…I can't, sir…"

His glare worsened, and I felt Alise tremble along with me.

"Who do I go to to get my address out of the system?" he demanded.

"The mail counter, sir."

"In the Pokémon Center?"

"Yes."

"You're going with me to there, then," he growled, and disappeared into his house. I faintly wondered if I should run for it while I still could, but he appeared seconds later and stormed out of his little trailer home. I followed him quietly, unsure of what was going to happen.

People in the town gave me sympathetic looks as I remained at the angry man's heels. It didn't take long to reach the Pokémon Center.

"Can I help you, sir?" the woman at the post counter said as he marched over to her.

"Yes. You can. Tell me how my address got in your system," he snapped. I looked up at her, silently begging her to let me escape.

"Um…" she said, looking rather uncomfortable as she examined us. "Well, we get information from real estate companies and run a monthly check with the town roster."

He scowled. "Can you take my address out of the system?"

"I don't have the authority to do that, sir. I'd have to contact the higher-ups," she explained. "Why? Is there a problem?"

His scowl deepened. "Yes. There is. Give me a moment; make sure this runt doesn't escape."

I trembled as he marched away, and the woman frowned down at me with concern.

"What happened?"

"I went to drop off the package and he started demanding to know how I knew where he lived," I whispered, still scared out of my mind. "I don't see what I did wrong…"

"Doesn't seem like you did, but he apparently wants you to stay here. I have the police on speed dial; don't worry, you're not in danger," she said comfortingly.

I shrugged and waited.

Moments later Dr. Zager walked back over, appearing a little calmer.

"Okay, so this is the deal. From now on, this runt is the only one who delivers letters or packages to me, the Viridian Gym Leader Giovanni, Domino Anne, Butch Rogers and Cassidy Rogers. Understood? Any packages going to and from these people are to be carried by him and only him. Nobody else knows _any_ of our addresses."

The woman nodded. "I'll be certain to enter that into the system. He'll be an assigned delivery boy, then. Keep in mind, you will still have to drop everything off here to be picked up and delivered by him."

Zager nodded.

"Come with me," he said, dragging me off. I sent one last pleading look to the woman, who gestured to her phone.

Police on speed dial. Right.

Dr. Zager dragged me into the phone room, where he had started a video call with four other people.

"This is the boy," he explained. "You can tell him apart by that blonde streak on the back of his head."

I probably would've had a heart attack at that if my heart rate wasn't already maxed out with fear of the crazy man next to me. How had I missed dying that streak?

"Um…" I mumbled, "Actually, I'm gonna have to dye that to match the rest of my head…"

I gulped as all the faces on the screen looked at me in slight amusement.

"Why? Makes you stand out," the bottom-left girl said.

I shrugged and stared at my feet.

Dr. Zager grabbed my chin and forced it up. "Fine. Take a good look at his face. He's not very tall, wears contacts I think, dark hair, bird on his shoulder."

I nearly fainted at the mention of my contacts, and I looked away as my face heated.

"Got it," the top right corner guy said, and then his screen went black. The other three nodded and the video call ended moments later.

Dr. Zager turned to examine me himself for a second before nodding in what seemed like approval and scurrying off.

I stood still, shaking, for a while before heading out to the lobby. The woman at the post counter looked over at me, and I just sighed before heading up to my room. That was utterly terrifying.

It was only five o'clock, but I ate a small dinner and passed out.

It had been a rather odd day.

* * *

I was in the middle of a desert, with the Sigilyph right next to me and the desert prince on the other side. He looked older, though, and his face was lined with wrinkles.

"Ambrosii," I heard the boy say, his voice deep and smooth, "promise me one thing."

The Sigilyph, Ambrosii, nodded.

"You'll always be a friend."

I didn't quite understand it. Friend to who? Good friends or best friends? Why did he need to be a friend?

"This world… It's full of hatred, Ambrosii. Jealousy, unfairness, anger and enemies. People pretend to be friends, just to stab each other in the back later. I've never seen a friendship as pure as ours, Ambrosii, and I'm sorry to say that it's not because of me. You, Ambrosii, are perfect. Be someone's companion. Make someone feel as if they truly have someone to confide in, and confide in them. It doesn't matter who, Ambrosii. It could be our enemies. It could be a Pokemon. A human. The most twisted person on this planet. But be their friend. Please."

Ambrosii looked over at him, with something that I thought was fear in his eyes.

"I can't die in peace unless I know that this world will always have the gift of friendship," the prince said quietly.

Ambrosii made an alarmed noise, like a shrill scrape of two rocks.

"I've played my part in the world, my dear friend. It's time for me to go."

The desert sun set, and my dream faded with it.

* * *

I woke up gasping, and looked around until I spotted the Sigilyph.

"Ambrosii?" I whispered, willing my heart rate to slow down a bit.

The Sigilyph nodded.

"We're… friends?"

He nodded again.

We sat like that for a while and just stared at each other.

"Okay then," I mumbled tiredly, my rush of adrenaline having disappeared. "Good night, Ambrosii."

I faintly heard stones rolling through a cave as my eyes shut.

* * *

**Hello everyone. I might be able to get another update in tomorrow and/or the day after, but I'm not sure. Anyways, I have a couple questions for all of you readers.**

**Does the story seem like it's moving to fast? How is the main character coming across to all of you? Are the chapters too short? Does everything make sense? Do any of you want to be my beta? (I've tried messaging a couple Pokemon betas, but none have answered yet, so... if any of you are interested in being a beta, please message me!) Is there a character that doesn't seem detailed enough to all of you? Is there anything in this story that you'd like to see changed?**

**As a beginning fiction writer, I'd appreciate any help I can get. Bye for now!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokémon. This is fanwork and I do not profit from this.**

The next morning wasn't too out of the ordinary. My little group grabbed some free breakfast, and I quickly learned to never, ever leave Alise unattended near the salad bar. She had went on a sunflower-kernel eating rampage, attempted to bathe in the ranch dressing, and ripped open countless packs of saltine crackers in the five minutes I had gone to try and help Ambrosii learn how to use the cereal dispenser.

However, the Pokémon Center staff seemed like they were used to this happening, so they just had me return Alise to her Pokeball and have her eat separately up in my room.

After everyone was fed, that one lock of hair Zager had found re-dyed, and a good half hour spent scrubbing ranch out of a rather abashed Alise, I headed down to the mail counter.

"So, um… Is there any mail for the people I'm assigned to, then?" I asked the woman at the counter. She nodded and opened a file cabinet behind the desk.

"This is going to Professor Oak from Zager. He's in Pallet Town," she said. "Oh, and stop in Viridian, too. We have your assignments set up in the system, and I just got an alert saying that there's something Giovanni needs delivered, too. Then you'll have to head to Cerulean for Domino."

She pulled out a thick envelope and handed it to me.

"Drop this off too." She handed another package to me. "It's also in Pallet Town. I don't think time will be a problem; you've got until July 12th, five weeks from now."

I looked down at the small box, and couldn't help but smile when I saw the address. I knew the person it was going to.

"That's all?" I asked, and the woman nodded, so I went ahead and left.

Ambrosii, Alice and I took our time leaving the town, and stopped in a few shops. Lots of people gawked at the Sigilyph, and a few asked me how I found it. I just shrugged and said "he found me" before continuing on with shopping. I absently wondered if Ambrosii would be fine with staying in a Pokeball when we went to town, especially after I noticed some people take out their phones to take pictures.

Eventually, my group stumbled upon a TV store, and stayed for a few minutes to watch the news.

"Currently, the police are investigating the crime scene," Debra, the news reporter said. I stared at the screen, trying to figure out the problem.

"For those of you who just started watching," Frederick, another reporter interrupted, "a young Dratini with serious burn injuries was just found outside the Viridian City Gym. It is currently at the Pokémon Center, and Nurse Joy has reported that it appears as if the baby dragon Pokémon has some sort of poison infecting it now."

The screen changed to show the pink-haired nurse standing in the hallway of the Center, with lots of Chansey carting medical supplies to and fro around her.

"Hello," she said. "We just finished all her blood tests, and it appears as if the Dratini has ingested a ridiculous number of Pokémon vitamins and Rare Candies, and the lead poisoning is pretty bad."

"Can you explain how this is a problem?" the news reporter asked, and Nurse Joy nodded.

"Pokémon vitamins, such as Proteins, Carbos, and similar substances can be helpful, if used in moderation. However, an overdose can potentially kill or permanently damage a Pokémon. This is because they contain lead. Normally, a Pokémon, especially rock Pokémon, can ingest this without too much of a problem, or at least with more ease than humans. However, too much can cause development and growth issues, confusion, and in more severe cases comas and seizures.

"However, this isn't the only problem with this little Dratini. It appears as if she has also suffered severe burn injuries from a remarkably strong fire Pokémon. We can't determine how bad the injuries are yet, but we can assure you that this poor little creature will be properly diagnosed and treated as soon as possible."

I blinked and subconsciously reached for Alise, who stared at the TV in confusion, obviously not comprehending what the people said, but hearing their concern.

The screen went back to Frederick and Debra.

"We are still trying to find the culprit. We have contacted Professor Oak, the current leader in Pokémon research, who also runs one of the biggest humane Pokémon dealing businesses in the world. He has reported that he sent ten Dratinis to Viridian's Gym Leader, Giovanni, but doesn't believe that his customer would commit such a horrible crime. We still do not know where the other nine of these Dratinis are," Debra said. "Police are investigating the gym as we speak."

"If you have any information related to this crime, please contact us at 555-555-NEWS. Now, here we see Silph Corporation's boss, Regi Smith, reporting on last week's robbery, and what they have to say about their recent drop in stocks," Frederick said, and I decided it was time to leave.

Pokémon abuse was considered a very, very serious crime in Kanto. In the other regions, it wasn't as severely punished as Pokémon were used in battles anyways, but Kanto was very strict about treatment of the creatures. If a Pokémon was purposefully harmed outside of a battle or self-defense, then there would be consequences. Silph Co. and other Pokémon product companies had to spend a lot of money for their licenses to test products on Pokémon, and trainers found travelling irresponsibly with no medicine or supplies for their Pokémon were punished. Pokeballs were designed in Kanto so that if a Pokémon was unhappy, malnourished, or injured a month after it was captured, traded or similar, it could escape.

I frowned as I headed back into Viridian Forest. I'd probably be stuck in there for a week again, and could check the news on the Dratini again when in the city.

The forest was as cold and spooky as ever. However, the wild Pokémon seemed a little more riled up. Last time, we had seen quite a few bugs here and there, along with a Weepinbell and a Caterpie stampede. This time I spotted Pineco hidden in the trees, Pikachu roasting berries, and even a Victreebel with something's wing hanging from its mouth. I had a sick feeling that I didn't want to know the rest of the creature's fate.

I made sure that Ambrosii was always nearby, and opted for carrying Alise in my hands instead of on my shoulder. I remembered my fear the first time I had entered the forest, and how she had flown off so quickly. I was starting to really like the little bird, despite the fact that she was of little to no help on my journey. She provided company, though. She wasn't confusing or mysterious like Ambrosii, but instead simple and sweet. My mind flitted to the friend whose package I had with me. His sister was like that, too. She was four years younger than me, and always bugged me and him whenever we were playing video games. Her name was Allison, but she preferred to go by Ally.

I looked down at Alise. Maybe the reason her name was so fitting was because it was similar to Allison's.

Our little trio marched on for quite some time before stopping for lunch.

We munched on some nuts and berries, fending off a few adventurous Weedle who wanted a bite. I frowned after the last of the little caterpillars gave up. No Pokémon dared get so close to us last time we went through; something was wrong.

We packed up and continued along.

The next day I awoke to the sound of gunshots nearby. Ambrosii, like last time, had a panic attack and I was knocked out before I even knew what happened. When I came around, the action was over and Ambrosii was calm again.

Then, on my third day in the forest, I stumbled upon a heavily wounded Murkrow. Its wing had a bullet hole in it, and its beak looked cracked. I spotted blood pooling on the pathway around it, mixing with the dirt. I could smell the metallic scent of the red liquid, and the rotting flesh around the bullet hole. I would've thought if it was dead if it weren't for the faint whistling noise it made as it breathed.

I stared at it in morbid fascination before turning around and throwing up in a nearby bush. Alise scrambled up to my shoulder and buried her face in my neck as I took a deep breath.

I opened my messenger bag, searching for Pokeballs, but could find none. I inhaled quickly and felt my stomach drop as I kept searching. I _knew_ I had some, but where were they? I couldn't just leave the Murkrow out here, and its injury would only worsen if I carried it.

Ten minutes later I still could find none, and I figured that it was time to try something else.

"We'll just have to do this the hard way, then," I muttered, and pulled out a roll of bandage and a Potion. "Can you lift it using psychic powers or something?" I asked Ambrosii, who shook his head.

Oh. Right. Murkrow were dark.

I crouched down next to the black bird, trying to ignore the intense smell. I held my breath as I gently lifted its wing and sprayed a little bit of the Potion onto the wound. That would keep it clean, at least. I wasn't exactly sure what to do with the bandage, as I had never learned how to use it on an actual Pokémon wing. My best guess was to just wrap it tightly around it and change it if it got too bloody.

I was fairly certain I failed at it, because the thing was soaked in blood in seconds. I tried taking it off and reapplying it, but ended up with the same result.

"Well, we'll just have to make do with this," I whispered, lifting the Murkrow off the ground. "Ambrosii, can you find an Oran or Sitrus berry? I only have Pechas."

The Sigilyph disappeared into the forest for a moment before returning with some round, blue berries floating next to it.

"Thanks," I muttered and plucked one out of the air to give to the Murkrow. I almost facepalmed as I realized it couldn't eat. Its beak was cracked and it was unconscious. I sighed and put the berries in the bag. I'd try and get something down its throat at dinner.

Nothing else of interest happened until evening when I set up camp. Alise refused to leave the Murkrow's side as I rolled out my sleeping bag and started a fire. With its wing wrapped up, and it overall looking less muddy and dead, she didn't seem as squeamish with being close to it. I tried re-bandaging its wing, and was happy to discover that it wasn't bleeding as badly as before. It was probably a miracle it was even alive; the gunshots were yesterday, and it must've been hurt and unattended for quite a while.

I made a makeshift mortar and pestle out of a plastic bowl and a nearby rock, and crushed two of the Oran berries into a thick liquid. Alise gently opened its beak and I poured a little bit into its mouth. It wouldn't work any miracles, but it'd keep the little guy going for a little longer.

I climbed into my sleeping bag with Alise, frowning slightly as I watched the Murkrow lay out in the cold. It could catch something-Viridian was freezing at night. After a couple seconds of consideration, I picked the tiny bird up and crawled back in my sleeping bag and cradled it as I drifted off to sleep.

The next two days were pretty boring. I changed the Murkrow's bandages whenever they were looking too bloody, and Alise was always ready to help when it came to feeding time. I tried to move as quickly as possible to get the Murkrow to help, but having to make frequent stops wasn't helping. Ambrosii didn't stay as close to me as he used to, for what I could only assume was fear of the dark energy.

It was the day before I got out of the forest when problems occurred. I woke up and changed the Murkrow's bandages again, spraying the last of my Potion onto the wound. It had pretty much scabbed over, and I was careful not to move the wing and aggravate it. Alise helped me crush more Oran berries, and then help me dump them into its mouth.

As we packed everything up so we could get moving, I heard a ferocious growl from somewhere nearby. Alise chirped and looked around from her perch on my shoulder, and I tensed, ready to run.

Moments later Ambrosii burst out of the cover of nearby trees, a Raichu digging its teeth into one of his wings. Alise suddenly didn't look so brave anymore as Ambrosii dove and smacked the large rat against the ground. His effort received a jolt of electricity that not only traveled through him, but singed the air and jumped over to me, zapping Alise and the Murkrow.

The Murkrow's eyes snapped open for the first time in days and it let out a strangled cry, which I hardly heard as I fell to the ground, screaming. Black dots clouded my vision, but I faintly felt Alise leave my shoulder. My muscles refused to relax for quite a while, and when my vision finally returned, I gasped in shock.

Alise was dive-bombing the Raichu, going directly for the electrical pouches on its cheeks while Ambrosii tried to buck it off. She wasn't doing much damage, but the overgrown rat was definitely distracted. It kept sparking, and I feared for Alise as she bravely dodged all of its attacks.

Everything went downhill from there, though, as soon as she was smacked across her face with its tail as Ambrosii tried shaking it. The creature eventually relinquished its grip, but Alise tumbled out of the sky, landing smack in the middle of the ground.

I dove for her, guarding her with my body as the Raichu let out one last angry shock wave before scampering back into the woods.

I stayed there for a while, draped over Alise in the Murkrow, taking deep breaths as the adrenaline left my bloodstream. When I felt we were all sufficiently calmed down, I picked up her and the Murkrow, which had fallen asleep again, and checked to make sure Ambrosii was following before sprinting as fast as I could out of the woods.

We reached Viridian City fairly quickly, and, I hurried over to the Pokémon Center as quickly as possible.

Nurse Joy spotted the Murkrow as soon as I stepped in, and rushed over. She lifted it out of my arms and carried it away without a word. I sighed and walked over to a chair to wait for her return.

She emerged from a hallway a short while later, and came to sit across from me.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice rather low.

I explained everything I could to her, and handed Alise over to be healed as well. I tried handing Ambrosii over to be checked, but he refused to stray any farther than ten feet away. Nurse Joy sighed when she saw this and handed Alise to a Chansey. "Check to see if she has a concussion or sprained her neck," she ordered, and the pink Pokémon nodded before carting her away into the hallways behind the Center.

Then the nurse proceeded to completely bandage Ambrosii's wing, discharge some remaining electrical energy from his tail, and clean all the little scratches he accumulated over the rest of his body on the spot with no assistance whatsoever.

"Psychics are always so protective…" she muttered as she finished disinfecting a small gash on Ambrosii's shoulder. "Anyways, I'm going to have to call Officer Jenny to question you about the Murkrow case. Pokémon poaching and abuse is a horrible crime, and she needs whatever information she can get on the situation." She then stood up, as if to walk away, but I grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

"Um… what's going to happen to the Murkrow?" I asked.

She frowned. "I don't know. It'll need to spend quite a while here healing. We should have it properly diagnosed by tomorrow with an estimation of how long it needs to spend healing. Why, did you want to keep it?"

"I don't know," I said dumbly.

"Okay. In that case, if you don't, we'll either put it up for adoption once it heals or release it back to Viridian Forest."

"…Can I see if I can let you know once I'm back in Viridian on whether or not I want to keep it?" I asked timidly. "Like, I'll have to come through here again after I deliver stuff in Pallet."

Nurse Joy nodded. "If you want to keep it, though, you'll have to buy a Pokeball, and we'll have it arranged to have the Murkrow sent to wherever you are once it's done healing. Now, I'm going to call Officer Jenny." I looked at her blankly. "I just said why. She needs information on the Murkrow." I nodded.

"Actually, one more question," I interrupted again. "In Pewter, the Dratini was on the news for being abused. Is there anything new about that?"

Nurse Joy frowned. "Not much. The newspaper has more information about the investigation than I do, but I can assure you the Dratini is in good hands. I can have Chansey show it to you, if you'd like. And you can see the Murkrow."

"That'd be nice," I said, and Nurse Joy walked over to her counter while a Chansey headed over to me.

"Chan, Chansiii," the pink Pokémon sang as it grabbed my hand. It led me out of the lobby and into a maze of hallways. I didn't even attempt to keep track of all turns we made before we stopped in front of a window peering into a brightly lit room. I looked in and spotted a rather large blue snake sprawled across a table. The creature was at least six feet long, and was covered in bandages. A Blissey calmly stood at its head, spooning what looked like pudding into its mouth.

"Chansiiii!" my guide said, and dragged me off. A few turns later and we were at a different window. I looked in the room, which was a little dimmer this time, and saw a table surrounded by Chanseys. I couldn't even see the Murkrow. I stayed there for a little while, absently wondering how much my bandages had helped.

I was led away from the room moments later and dropped off in the lobby, where a woman with blue hair was waiting. I recognized her as Officer Jenny.

"Hello," I said timidly as I walked over.

"Hi. You're the one who found the Murkrow in Viridian Forest?" she asked. I nodded. "I need to see your license."

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the plastic card. It had my name, occupation, picture and address on it, along with my natural eye and hair color. The picture had my hair dyed and contacts on, though.

"Can you take your contacts off?" she asked me as she handed me my card. I gently pulled one off, and tried to ignore the fact that she flinched at the sight of my red iris. She nodded and I put it back on. "I just have a few questions. Here, let's sit down."

We walked over to a couch and table, and she pulled out a map of Viridian Forest.

"Can you approximate where you were when you heard the gunshots and where you found the Murkrow?"

I nodded and examined the map. I was almost halfway through the forest, and had crossed the stream the day before. I pointed to an open spot on the map that seemed like where I set up camp. "I woke up at around 7 or 8 I think here to the sound of gunshots. My Sigilyph is scared of guns, and knocked me out until everything calmed down."

Officer Jenny drew an X on the spot I pointed at. "How'd you get your Sigilyph?"

I looked over at Ambrosii, who was floating near me. "I ran into him in Viridian."

"When?"

"Um… I think it was two weeks ago?"

"Do you know where you were when you found it?" Jenny asked.

I frowned. I had been lost.

"Umm… somewhere along the stream, I think."

She studied me. "Uh-huh. And do you know where it came from?"

"I…" I looked at Ambrosii and silently asked for permission to tell his story. He shook himself. No.

"I don't know," I lied. Jenny scowled.

"Yes you do."

I squirmed uncomfortably. "Um… he doesn't want me to say, ma'am."

"Cut the ma'am. We need to know."

I withered under her glare. "I don't get how this is related to the Murkrow…"

"It could be, but okay then. You will answer this question later. Where did you find the Murkrow?"

I turned my attention back to the map. "I think it was somewhere over here…" I said, pointing slightly south of the center. "There was an Oran berry tree somewhere nearby, I think. And then a different bush just to the side of the path."

"There was a bullet hole in the Murkrow's wing?"

"Yeah. And I think its beak was cracked."

"You bandaged the wing?"

"Yes."

"But didn't capture it."

"I didn't have any Pokeballs with me," I muttered.

"This happened how many days ago?"

"Three or four."

Officer Jenny sighed. "And then you brought it here to be taken care of by Nurse Joy."

"Yeah."

"Do you intend to keep the Murkrow?"

I shrugged. "Uh… maybe. I'm thinking about it."

Officer Jenny nodded, looking a little less intimidating. "You said that you heard gunshots before in Viridian?"

"Yeah…"

"Can you elaborate? When and where did it happen?"

"I… um… it was a few days after my Sigilyph joined me, and I was almost to Pewter. A giant horde of Venomoth flew overhead and my Sigilyph knocked me out and dragged me off the path. When I woke up there was a Venomoth corpse in a nearby tree."

"Do you know where you were on the map?"

I frowned. "Not a hundred percent sure. I think in this general area, closer to Pewter."

Officer Jenny nodded. "We'll look for the Venomoth, then. Why didn't you report this once you got into Pewter?"

"I… I'm not sure. I guess I was just worried about other stuff."

Officer Jenny scowled again. "Whenever something like this happens, you need to report it as soon as possible. Understood?"

I nodded weakly.

"Now, about the Sigilyph. Where does it come from?"

"Unova?"

"Why was it in Kanto?"

I look over at Ambrosii, who floats closer and reluctantly nods.

"Poachers."

"Can you tell us much more?"

"Not really." Well, I actually could tell quite a bit more, but Amrosii looked rather uncomfortable.

"How do you know this?"

"It communicates via images," I muttered.

"Psychic images?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. Is there anything else you wanted to say about this case?"

I thought for a moment.

"The Pokémon in the forest were acting strangely," I shrugged. "Some Weedle tried to steal my lunch once, and nothing was as hidden as it was the first time I went through the forest."

"Okay. Is that all?"

"Uh… yeah."

"Thank you for your time. You're dismissed for now, but we may need you again as we further investigate the crime."

"Um… okay…"

Officer Jenny stood, gathered the map, and left without another word.

I sat there for a moment, wondering what to do next, before heading out for lunch. Life was a lot more chaotic and confusing than I had originally thought, and food had an odd habit of making everything seem alright.

After feasting upon Miltank burgers, I followed Nurse Joy's advice and picked up a newspaper. I stuffed it in my bag and headed back to the Pokémon Center to stop at the post counter.

"I see you made it out of the forest alright and even got yourself assigned! How'd it go?" the lady there asked cheerfully before I could even speak. She pulled out a rather large package and slid it over to me.

"It was… odd, I guess," I mumbled as I wrestled the box into my messenger bag. "Viridian Forest is big."

"Yeah. Back when I was still an active messenger, I got lost in there, and later chased down by a nest of Beedrill. It took me a week and a half to find my way out and back to Pewter," she said happily. "Good job, though! You made it to Pewter and back in just a little over two weeks! That's something to be proud of!"

"Thanks," I mumbled before leaving.

It wasn't long before I was back on Route 1, and as the smell of fresh-cut grass reached me I remembered the Raticate at the beginning of the path, and how Alise had managed to cut one of its whiskers off, allowing us to escape. Then there was the little boy who had wanted a battle, resulting in both of our Pokémon fainting.

"You haven't battled since then, have you?" I asked the little bird on my shoulder. She tweeted in response.

We continued down the path, stopping occasionally to see two beginning trainers battle. It was surprising how intense both sides were, despite the fact that their Pokémon generally only knew moves like scratch and tackle. The trainers also seemed rather happy to have an interested audience of me, Alise and Ambrosii.

However, it didn't take very long to reach Pallet Town. We arrived just before the sun set, and I felt a wave of nostalgia as I saw the blazing star disappear behind the faint outline of Mt. Silver.

I checked the time, and figured that everyone should be awake for another hour or so, so I could go ahead and deliver everything then. I pulled out the package I picked up in Viridian; that would be delivered first, since it was the heaviest and hardly even fit in the bag. It was addressed to Professor Oak, and like every other kid from Pallet Town, I knew exactly where his lab was.

I headed over to the hill and walked up the path leading up to the giant research facility, and smiled as I spotted some Tauros grazing nearby. Professor Oak's was always the center of grade-school kids' activity, and he never minded all the ten year-olds who constantly pestered him with questions as soon as they were released from class. He would be more than happy to tell us about the different types of Pokémon and where they came from. He'd even let us approach the tamer ones, and let us help out by feeding and cleaning the Ponyta. Everyone from Pallet learned to love Pokémon at an early age because of the Professor, and most dreamed of someday becoming trainers.

Me? Well, I had always wanted to leave one day with a Bulbasaur. That was, until my friend Garret left.

I frowned and pushed the memory of his departure away. He was the first person to leave me, quickly followed by my aunt, then my mom, and finally my sister. But I wasn't going to think about that now.

I looked up; I had already reached the door to the lab. I rang the doorbell, figuring that if the Professor didn't answer it he'd probably be at the stables. Thankfully, he did.

"Ah! Hello there," he said, grinning. His grayish hair was sticking up, as if he had been electrocuted by something. He looked happy, nonetheless. "How can I help you?"

"I, um, have a package for you, sir," I explained, handing the box to him. "Oh, and this, too." I pulled out the envelope from Zager and set it on top of the box. He looked at it with mild interest.

"Oh, thank you! Is that all?"

"Uh, yeah…"

He nodded. "Okay then. Well, thank you! Have a nice evening!"

"You too."

With that, the door shut and I headed back down the hill. Up next was my friend's house.

I reached my destination quickly, but didn't even have to knock. Allison had been staring out the window and spotted me before I reached the door.

"You came back!" she squealed as I walked up to her. "Are you going to stay?"

I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. I had left her behind, too, hadn't I?

"No, Ally, I can't," I said sadly. She frowned.

"Well, didja catch a lotta Pokémon?" she asked.

"I'm not a trainer, but I do have Alise the Pidgey and Ambrosii the Sigilyph now," I said, and stepped aside so she could see the magnificent psychic creature behind me.

Allison stared at him in wonder. "Woahhhh, he's got a weird name, but he's pretty."

"Thanks, Ally. Now can you go get Darien?" She nodded and darted off, returning shortly with my best friend in tow.

"Hey! How's it going?" he asked once he saw me. "I thought you were off to deliver mail or whatever."

I nodded. "Yeah, I still am. I'm doing alright. Anyways, I have some stuff for you. Apparently someone's sending you stuff from Pewter."

He grinned. "Oh good! I know what it is, then."

I handed him the box. "Really? What is it?"

"I ordered a Corsola from that little Pokémon shop in Pewter for my mom's aquarium. They don't do out-of-region shipments, so I had to have them send it here to be sent to Unova fast enough for her birthday."

I nodded. Darien's parents were divorced. He spent the school year in Unova with his mom, and then came out to Kanto with his dad. When I had first met him years ago, he said that the first time he came to Kanto he was completely shocked by the complete culture change. He said that Kanto was a lot more relaxed and much less formal, and that he'd never seen people wandering around with large Pokémon outside their Pokeballs with them. I had told him that I had never heard someone remove "r"s from all the words that have them and insert them in all the words I didn't. That started one of the greatest friendships I ever had.

"That's cool. I bet your mom will really like it. Corsola aren't found in Unova, right?"

Darien shakes his head. "Nah. Unova's kinda weird like that. All the Pokémon there are found only there."

I nodded. "Well, bye then. I have other stuff to deliver."

"Bye! You know, if you ever get time off, though, we have to beat Trine. Got that?"

"Yep," I smiled a bit. I'd be looking forward to that.

Ally shyly waved, and I took my leave.

There wasn't a post counter in Pallet, and Professor Oak didn't give me anything to deliver so I assumed that my work was done for the night.

I smiled to myself. I could head back to my home, and spend the night there then.

I turned towards the direction of my house and picked up my walking pace. I hadn't seen my dad in weeks; how was he holding up? Was he too lonely now that I was gone? Did he want me to quit my job and stay home?

I broke off into a run. Did Mom come to visit? Had his Tangela finally evolved? Had he kept dust from collecting in my room?

Did he miss me?

It didn't take long to reach my house. It was the same as ever, painted light brown with a tulip garden out front. It was only one story and a basement, with light green curtains in all the windows and a red brick chimney. I knocked on the door, as the doorbell had been broken for years, and held my breath as I heard my dad shout and rush over.

Shock filled his features as he opened the door.

"I… what are you doing back home so soon?" he asked, and broke into a grin. "Probably delivering mail for Professor Oak, right?"

I nodded and hugged him. "Yep. Wait until you see my sort-of new Pokémon!"

"Sort-of new?" he asked, stepping aside to let me in.

"Yeah. He's not really new; I got him a couple weeks ago. And he's not really, like, completely mine either. His name's Ambrosii," I explained, practically dancing into the house. I hadn't realized how much I missed home with everything that had happened.

"Ambrosii?" Dad asked as he stared in wonder at the Sigilyph that followed me inside. "How-Wait, where did you get him?"

"He found me in Viridian Forest a few days after I left," I said. "He's a shiny Sigilyph from Unova."

"_Shiny?_"

"Yup. A guy at a traveler's store wanted to buy him from me, but Ambrosii isn't completely mine," I said. "It's a long story, and he doesn't really like me telling other people about it." Ambrosii nodded, protectively gliding to the left of me. "I found a Murkrow, too. It had been shot, so I took it to the Pokémon Center. We also encountered a feral Raichu, and I swear that thing nearly killed is all. The Murkrow managed to survive it though. I don't know if I'm going to keep it though, and Officer Jenny had to question me about it. Nurse Joy also let me see the injured Dratini."

Dad smiled. "I saw that on the news a few weeks ago. How's it doing?"

I shrugged. "It's all bandaged up, and there was a Blissey monitoring it. But I had no idea they were so big! It's taller than me!"

Dad snorted. "Everything's taller than you."

I playfully punched him. "And whose fault is that?"

"Your mother's."

"Guess again, Mr. Five-foot-nine."

And with that, I sprinted off to my old bedroom.

* * *

AN: I probably won't be able to post anything next week, so I took an extra day to try and make this chapter longer and edit a couple mistakes out of it. Let me know what I need to work on, and if you want to be a beta or know anyone who'd be interested, please let me know. Bye for now!


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokémon. This is fanwork and I do not profit from this.**

My dreams were rather strange that night. It was as if I was someone else, watching many people from different places grow up. Each of them bore some uncanny resemblance. It was neither the way they acted nor the way they looked, but something was eerily alike. I couldn't figure out what made them so similar; they each led different lives with different perils, and each had very different philosophies.

It was as if each of them carried something, in a sense. There was no physical box or object that they literally carried, but there was something else. I didn't know what it was, but each of them had it. It might have been what made them so similar; the thing they carried.

There were about five or six of these people that I saw. One grew up in Lavender Town, a place I quickly decided that I never wanted to be. He was a boy with red hair and green eyes who went on to become a Gym Leader in Vermillion. He was a master of Grass-types and appeared to have lived long, long ago. Vermillion had just started growing and all the houses were wooden. Wood houses in the city had been obliterated by a fire decades before my time; this scene was definitely ancient. The boy died during a tornado that tore up his house and crushed him against the nearby pavement.

One thing stood out about him, though. The day before his death, he rescued a baby girl with blonde hair and blue eyes from being shocked by an angry Electrode. It surely would have killed her, and even he was heavily damaged by the electricity. However, the moment he touched the girl, when he was diving for her, it was as if he had lost what he was carrying, and the girl took it instead.

The girl became a Pokémon breeder, and the day before she died an odd doctor from Sinnoh arrived to take care of her. However, the doctor had brought his infant son with him, for there was nobody else who could watch the young child. The girl, who was now more than 90 years old, took great joy in holding the infant boy, and she lost what she had been carrying. The next morning the doctor found her dead in her bed.

The boy became a doctor like his dad and passed on the thing to a baby born prematurely. The baby eventually became a world famous singer. That singer met a teenage mom who had won a contest and received a VIP pass to his concert; he held her baby and passed on what he was carrying. The singer died in a car crash the next day.

The dreams were cut off at this point, and I was left awake in my room with Alise snoozing on my chest. I could faintly hear birdsong in the background with what I recognized as a Starly taking the solo. One thing I had always loved about Pallet Town was the fact that, because we had Professor Oak, we had a variety of birds that sang every morning and evening. Everywhere else you would be lucky to hear Pidgeys singing soprano with a couple Spearows.

I laid there for a few minutes wondering if my dream meant anything before I plucked Alise off my chest and rolled out of bed.

After quickly getting ready for the day, I headed over to the kitchen. It was just as it was before I left on my adventure; my dad's Tangela, Carson, was throwing away some breakfast item burnt beyond comprehension while my dad had reluctantly switched over to just pouring cereal for all of us. Smoke still lingered in the air, but there was not enough to set off our fire alarms, which had happened frequently in the past.

"So, do you have any other stories to tell?" my dad asked, placing the bowls on the table.

"Uh, not really. I'm going to have to leave pretty quickly too. I need to get to Saffron," I said, taking my seat. "Mt. Moon's probably going to give me some trouble, so I'll be leaving right after breakfast."

My dad sighed and nodded. "I figured. Well, if you ever stop in Pallet again, come visit me, okay? It gets kind of lonely with just Carson." The Tangela looked up at the mention of his name before dancing around the kitchen again.

I stared at my cereal. "I'd _rather _stay home," I began, but my dad raised his hand in a "stop" gesture.

"You need to get out of the house and go on an adventure. Everyone leaves at some point."

I frowned. "No they don't. Darien is still here."

"His mother is trying to register his training license in Unova. He leaves to become a trainer in the fall."

"But what about scholars?"

"You need a minimum of three badges or two years of traveling experience with Pokémon before any respectable school would accept you. Besides, do you honestly want to spend another decade studying before you can ever journey again? Look, it's okay to go out and live your life. You can't keep being dragged down by this constant fear of being left behind or leaving people behind. It's _your_ life, and it's _your_ choice on what you want to do with it. We've been through this before." My dad looked rather tired of discussing the issue. The whole 'everyone leaves' debate was something we had been arguing about since my sister moved.

"And if I like the way my life is when it's filled with people who I know and love, who are there for me whenever I need them, then shouldn't I be able to keep those people in my life?" I demanded.

"Shouldn't they be able to leave if they choose to?" he countered.

"If they leave, then doesn't that mean they don't care?"

He scowled. "They do care. Your mother wanted you to move to Floaroma with her, and she visits every year for your birthday."

"Why couldn't we just move with her?" I practically shouted. "I'm sick of hearing all the talk from everyone about stocks falling, about the economy getting worse, about the lack of jobs and money, and about everything that's going wrong with Kanto!"

"We stayed for a number of reasons, all of which you know, and the economy is _fine,_" my dad snapped.

"If the economy's so great, why'd you have to get a second job at the lab and all but give up painting? Your studio is right outside my room, in case you forgot, and I couldn't help but notice all your brushes and pencils were put away. That room is _never_ that clean."

My dad took a deep breath. "We are _not_ arguing about this right now. Here, you need to get going. Is there anything you need to stock up on?"

"No. There isn't," I snapped, and marched out the door, Alise on my shoulder, without another word.

I reached Viridian a few hours later, regretting the entire conversation with my dad. I knew he just wanted what was best for me, but I would much rather stay home than travel through Kanto delivering mail for some weird gym leader and doctor.

However, I had something else to worry about as I stepped into the Viridian Pokémon Center.

One hour, a hug, a handshake and a barrage of apologies later, I walked out of Viridian knowing that something had been taken care of.

I had decided to keep the Murkrow on the way to Viridian City. Flying-types were always a good addition to any messenger's team, and I had come to like the little guy quite a lot when watching out for him in Viridian. Also, it just didn't seem right to have him released back in the wild, where he would be weak and in danger of being shot again. After seeing the Venomoth corpse weeks earlier, I felt like I had somewhat made up for leaving the bug behind when I bandaged the tiny bird up.

Apparently, all my efforts were in vain. Nurse Joy had nothing but bad news regarding him.

The Murkrow had died overnight; the wound had healed up fine, but seeing as I had found him a day after he was shot, some deadly bacteria had been able to sneak into him. I had thought he'd been getting better when he woke up a little bit, but after the encounter with the Raichu, he was too weak to last much longer.

I was a mess heading into Viridian Forest. I barely lasted five minutes before I burst into tears.

"I should have stayed in Viridian last night," I cried, hugging Alise. I barely felt myself fall back against a tree. "I should've used more Potions when I found it. I should've double-checked before entering the forest to make sure I had Pokeballs. I should've run when we encountered the Raichu. Ambrosii's strong; he could've handled the Raichu himself. I should've moved faster through the forest. I didn't have to stop for lunch on those days; I could've eaten granola or trail mix or something on the road; we could've gotten to the Center hours earlier. That could've saved his life."

Alise cooed and rubbed her head against my face, trying to comfort me.

"I should've asked for a Pokegear for my birthday instead of that stupid art set. I could've called for help. I should've gotten there faster. I shouldn't have let Ambrosii knock me out during the shooting. I could've done so much," I sobbed.

I felt something leathery rest on my shoulder and wiped my eyes, just to see Ambrosii staring down at me.

"I could've done so much," I muttered again, refusing to make eye contact with the Sigilyph.

He responded by sending me a short scene.

Ambrosii and the desert prince were inside a giant castle, with an open casket lying in front of them. Inside was a Sigilyph, eyes shut and wings folded downwards. There were numerous gashes all over the poor Pokémon, as if it had been sliced by a sword. Ambrosii and the desert prince's faces were filled with despair, but they refused to cry as a person who looked like a priest spoke, and the casket closed.

I sniffled as the scene evaporated, and took a deep breath as the forest surrounded me once more.

"I-I'm sorry," I mumbled, straightening. Alise clambered back onto my shoulder as I tried to relax. I rubbed my eyes vigorously and stepped forward. I had to keep moving forward. I wasn't doing anyone, especially the Murkrow, any favors by crying over what I should have done.

The next few days were difficult. Alise was always there to comfort me, but Ambrosii didn't seem to appreciate my habit of crying myself to sleep, and decided the best way to fix the situation would be to send me images of all his Sigilyph friends who had died and how he and the desert prince never shed a tear.

I was almost to Pewter when I just lost it.

"Will you just _stop it_?" I shouted after he finished showing me yet another Sigilyph who was missing its tail and had serious burn scars all over its wings. "I _get_ it. You and your precious little desert prince lost a lot of friends and didn't cry about it. You were two stoic little soldiers who were tough and shit. But you know what? I'm _not_ a soldier. I'm a _mailboy_. I made some mistakes which cost the life of an innocent Pokémon. And I _care_ that I made these mistakes. I _hate_ that I left it behind and it died. Just because you didn't care enough about the other Sigilyph to shed a single fucking tear doesn't mean you should punish me for caring about the Murkrow. I'm not committing some Mew-awful crime by showing emotion. So just _back off_ if you don't have anything nice to say. Or show. I'm sick of having to deal with all these horror pictures of you and your pals dying just because I'm grieving."

I took a deep breath and turned away from Ambrosii, slowly comprehending what I just said.

I barely had time to feel regret before said Psychic-type slammed me against a nearby tree. His rage seemed to slap me in the face, and scenes shifted through my mind before he seemed to find just the right one.

It was a book written in some language I couldn't even begin to decipher, but it seemed like the words were morphing into English.

"_We do our fallen friends more honor by respecting their sacrifice than by mourning it. They would much rather see us laugh and lead a good life than see us reduced to a weeping puddle."_

I practically wilted on the spot as the forest returned.

"I-I'm sorry," I muttered. "I just… I need some time alone, okay?"

Ambrosii didn't seem impressed and dragged me back over to the trail.

Needless to say, our last day in the forest was rather awkward. Alise didn't dare make a peep and Ambrosii was glaring at me. I wasn't exactly sure how to make amends with him. I mean, I did kind of tell him he didn't care about his friends. And I cussed. And he did kind of slam me into a tree. A simple apology would only go so far with him.

When we finally arrived at Pewter, I headed straight to a small coffee shop near the Pokémon Center. I was about ready to pass out from the exhaustion of everything that had happened in the past week, and I couldn't afford to waste the time and spend the night here. I had to get over to Mt. Moon soon or I'd never make it to Saffron.

I walked up to the counter where a rather frail-looking teenage girl was standing. She stared at me oddly for a second before plastering a fake smile across her face. I figured it was probably because I looked like a mess and smelled like trees.

"How may I help you?" she asked.

I went ahead and ordered a large coffee with a few scones for Alise. I figured she'd like to try something new.

"Of course. Here's the scones, and your coffee will be done momentarily. Take a seat anywhere," she said, staring at my face. I shrugged it off and thanked her before plopping down on a large, cushy armchair. Ambrosii hovered over me, and I could still feel anger radiating from him.

I sighed as I pulled out a scone.

"I'm sorry, Ambrosii, okay? I didn't mean it," I said. "I know you care about your friends. You're stronger than I am. I just… I'm weak, okay? I have trouble dealing with loss. I have trouble with people and Pokémon leaving. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Ambrosii seemed to relax a little bit but still shook himself, clearly still upset.

"Just… just let me know if you think of anything, okay?"

Ambrosii didn't respond, so I went ahead and started feeding bits of scone to Alise. She seemed to enjoy the sweet treat, if her nearly biting off my finger for more was anything to go by.

"Hey!" someone said, and I looked up to see two people, a boy and a girl, towering over me. They looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, both wearing Pokémon Trainer belts.

"Uh… hi," I said, fidgeting slightly. The boy was staring at me as if I were some sort of bizarre alien, while the girl seemed curious. We stayed like that for a second in awkward silence before I finally spoke up again. "Is there something I can help you with?"

They blinked, as if snapping out of a trance. "Oh! Yeah, um, we were wondering how you got your Sigilyph, and, um, if you don't mind us asking, what's wrong with your eyes? Do you have heterochromia?"

I stared at her blankly. "Hetero-whatia?"

"Your eyes don't match," the boy clarified. I blinked at him, slowly processing what he said. There was something… familiar about him.

However, the words finally hit me, and I felt my stomach drop.

"Um, hang on just a second," I squeaked, and darted off to the bathroom.

Sure enough, I had one red eye and one brown eye. I scowled at my reflection in the mirror. My contact must've fallen out when I was crying over the Murkrow. And, of course, I hadn't bothered to check my appearance before heading into town.

I opened up my bag, pulled out my spare contacts and quickly changed them out. I'd have to ask my dad for a new set when I went home again.

However, remembering our last argument, it might be a bit difficult to convince him.

I washed my hands and returned everything to my bag before heading out again. I could probably tell the people that my red eye had actually been a contact lens.

The two teenagers were sitting in the couch across from my chair, talking quietly under their breath. I went ahead and retrieved my now-finished coffee before rejoining them. Ambrosii seemed to be studying the boy sitting there, but for the sake of keeping awkwardness at a minimum, I didn't mention it.

"Uh… sorry about that," I stammered. "I forgot I had left my red contact lens in…"

"No problem," the boy said, leaning forward. "Though, why do you have a red contact lens?"

I felt myself blushing. I had never been good at talking with strangers. "…Long story."

"Oh! Um, is it personal? Sorry for asking, then," he said, eyes widening. "Um, we're probably being annoying, just randomly talking to you and stuff, but we were just kind of curious about your Sigilyph. I mean, I traveled through Unova a couple years ago, and I had never seen one of that color."

"It's… another long story," I said uncomfortably. "And, uh, it's… fine, I guess." I swear my face couldn't get any redder.

The girl shrugged, looking slightly disappointed. "Okay. I-we were just wondering. I mean, it's not every day you run into someone with an off-colored Pokémon. Especially a mailboy."

"I…" I frowned, and an awkward silence settled between us. "Well, um, I suppose I should get going," I said after a while. "I kind of need to get to Saffron soon and… yeah. I guess I'll, uh, see you around then."

I adjusted my bag and headed out with Ambrosii following me, still staring at the boy. I couldn't help but overhear one last comment from the two as the door closed.

"I thought you said you didn't go after guys younger than you?"

I choked on my coffee before quickly walking towards the Pokémon Center. It might've been referring to someone else. Maybe. Hopefully.

I stopped in the Pokémon Center's mail counter and picked up a few non-assignment letters that still needed to be dropped off at Saffron, then headed into the Pokemart. I bought a few Pokeballs, just in case, before leaving town.

I made it to Route 3 in the early evening and mentally winced at what I saw ahead of me. The terrain was rocky and rough, and I nearly lost my hat to the huge gust of wind that blew through. I ignored the cold as much as I could as I trekked forward, making sure to check behind me every so often to make sure Ambrosii hadn't been blown away.

I decided it was about time to stop once I spotted some nearby campers setting up for the night. I wasn't sure how far I made it, but I was still nowhere near the base of Mt. Moon. However, these thoughts were washed away as soon as I crawled into my sleeping bag.

I was watching a man with brown hair. He was friends with the Vermillion Gym Leader, the one I had seen in my dream the previous night. However, there was something strange about the two of them. It was as if the man was watching over the Gym Leader and protecting him, in a sense.

The dream suddenly ended, and my mind went totally blank for a minute before I started dreaming again. I didn't remember any of it when I woke up, just like a normal dream.

Then again, I didn't really have much time to focus on any of that when I woke up because there were two teenagers standing right next to my sleeping bag staring at me.

"WHAT THE-" I scrambled out of my sleeping bag as fast as I could, and switched on the flashlight I left out. They flinched when I pointed it at their faces and covered their eyes.

"Can you turn it off?" one of them said tiredly.

"Um…" I just pointed it a little lower. "What are you doing here?"

I studied them a little longer and recognized them as the people from the coffee shop earlier.

"Your Sigilyph appeared at one in the morning and dragged me out of bed," the boy said. I looked around, and glared at Ambrosii when I caught sight of him. Nothing he did ever made sense…

"Oh… Um, sorry about that." I turned back to the boy. There was definitely something familiar about him, not just in the I've-seen-your-face-before sense, but in the we've-met-before kind of deal. "I don't… um… I kind of don't really know why he does stuff like that…" I mumbled, and rubbed my eyes tiredly. "I… wait, what time is it?"

The girl stared down at her watch, hitting a small button to make it light up. "Four in the morning."

"…Oh. Uh, sorry again, if you guys want, um, I've only got one sleeping bag, but… um… you can use it if you want to go back to bed…" I stammered.

"I… No, we're fine," the boy said. "We're not that tired."

"Oh. Okay then," I said.

We all stood there awkwardly, and I had a faint feeling of déjà vu.

"So… what happens now?" the girl asked. "Like, does your Sigilyph want something?"

I shrugged. "I-I don't know."

She sighed. "Well, I suppose we can introduce ourselves. I'm Cara, and this is Devanshi. Well, he goes by Devan."

I went ahead and introduced myself. "So, uh, sorry about Ambrosii and all…"

"Who?"

"Um, the Sigilyph…"

"Oh, well, that's okay," Devan said, shrugging. "I mean, it originally sounds like it sucks and all, but it's rather interesting being dragged out of bed by psychic power and forced to speed march for three hours," he said sarcastically.

Cara cracked a smile, and I took the opportunity to study the two of them. Cara was rather short, with fuzzy dark brown hair and tannish skin. She had a few freckles and a round face, which made her look younger, but one could see pretty easily that she was in her mid-teens. Devan, on the other hand, was tall and gangly with black hair and a slightly oversized nose. He definitely didn't look familiar, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about him I had felt before.

"Yo. Kid," I snapped out of my thoughts as Cara waved her hand in my face. "So, what're we supposed to do?"

"I don't know…"

"Well, what were you doing before?" Devan asked, crossing his arms. "I mean, we can just go with whatever. We were kind of wandering around through Kanto, battling a few gyms."

"I was just heading to Saffron to deliver some mail," I awkwardly stared at my feet.

"We haven't fought Sabrina yet, have we?" Cara asked thoughtfully. "We could trail along with him and hit a few more gyms. Might get enough to qualify for the league later on. Whaddaya think?"

Devan shrugged. "Sure. Not much else to do, really. I mean, I don't think the Sig-I mean, Ambrosii would appreciate us leaving now."

"That's taken care of, then," Cara said, looking back at me. "Looks like you've got a pair of trainers watching your back now, kid!"

I blushed and shrugged. "Thanks."

"No problem. But personally, I'd kind of like to get some sleep before we go anywhere. Is that alright with you?"

"Um, go ahead," I said awkwardly. "Like I said, if you don't have a sleeping-"

"We know what we're doing. We're prepared," Cara assured me, and in less than five minutes the two of them were completely set up in their own sleeping bags and happily dreaming.

I gave a resigned sigh before retreating to the comfort of my own world of sleep.

* * *

AN: Okay, so I'm really sorry about the lateness and shortness. I was going to make it a bit longer, but after a while I just finally said "Okay, it's good enough, off it goes to my beta." (The wonder that is working with me; I'm always unprepared and have no clue what I'm doing half the time.) But anyways, I appreciate any advice you can give me. Let me know what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, what's interesting, what's boring, or anything like that. I also now have a poll on my profile, which you should definitely look at. (Yay for shameless advertising!) That's really about all I have to say, so thanks for reading (and double thanks if you review) and bye for now!

-Goldfish


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokemon. This is fanwork and I do not profit from this.

Note: Degrees are in Fahrenheit, not Celsius.

I was watching the man with brown hair again. He was standing outside the Vermillion Gym looking rather angry and intense. He had one hand hovering around some Pokeballs on his belt and the other holding what appeared to be a gun.

That was rather odd; guns weren't very common in Kanto. Usually Pokémon were used for issues involving death. I mean, neither choice was very acceptable, but guns were pretty useless compared to fire-breathing monsters.

Something flashed nearby, and the scene suddenly burst into chaos. An Alakazam appeared and stood next to the man as he shot at some Electrode rolling towards him. Some exploded, heavily damaging the area. Windows to the gym shattered, and suddenly the area was flooded with grass Pokémon as well. Smoke hid most of the action, but I could hear people shouting and screaming.

Then, minutes later, it all stopped. Everyone quieted, and the smoke dispersed. A group of Alakazam, Mr. Mime and Hypno all stood around the gym, appearing rather annoyed. The brown haired man was nowhere to be seen.

_"You dared to attack our Carrier and his Guardian?"_ a deep voice boomed. One of the remaining Electrodes growled and emitted a dangerous sizzling noise. _"If you have issues with the Treaty, then you are not to attack. You are to consult one of us."_ The Electrode responded with more growls. _"That is what has been agreed upon!"_ The Electrode looked like it was about to explode, but instead froze up. The psychic Pokémon marched off, lifting the Electrode into the air with psychic force.

I woke up just as the brown haired man returned outside with the gym leader. Alise was settled right in front of my face with a wing feather tickling my nose. I shifted my head slightly and held back a sneeze.

It was freezing cold outside, and rather foggy. The air smelt faintly of smoke and sizzling bacon, and I could hear Cara and Devan talking. Not feeling like dealing with the awkwardness of talking to them again, I willed myself to go back to sleep. I could deal with the two and my insane psychic partner later.

However, the world of dreams had apparently decided I was no longer welcome, and I was left awake and cold. Eventually I managed to drag myself out of bed and get ready for the day with Devan and Clara, and we took off moments afterwards.

The fog thickened as we scrambled through the rocky terrain, and I tripped and fell more times than I could count. The jacket I wore provided little warmth and protection as my hair grew gradually damper and damper. Cara and Devan seemed relatively unaffected by the cold and damp conditions, while even Ambrosii was shaking.

At lunch I couldn't help it. My hands were so numb I could barely pick up the food, and my teeth were literally chattering.

"How are you guys still so _warm_?" I blurted out, and Alise added in a few baffled chirps as well. I felt the little bird tremble and bury herself farther into my neck.

Cara and Devan exchanged glances before laughing.

"Dude, it's forty degrees out. It's not that cold," Devan said, snickering. "It's just a little chilly."

Cara nodded. "Have you ever been to Snowpoint? Now, _that_ place is an icebox."

I scowled and wrapped my arms tightly around myself. "I've never been farther than Pewter."

Devan chuckled. "Wait until we get into the mountain. You're going to freeze."

"Well _that's_ comforting," I snapped. I pulled Alise off my shoulder and tucked her into my jacket, which was hopefully a little warmer. She dug her talons into my shirt and chirped in appreciation.

We started moving again, and I tried not to imagine the warmth of Pallet Town and my room. The fog grew denser and hours later I was convinced that the only way Cara and Devan had any idea of where I was was by the chattering of my teeth.

"Hang on, let's stop for a minute," Devan said, and I crashed into his back, completely unaware he was right in front of me. He glanced over his shoulder. "I said stop."

I nodded and tried to ignore the fact that he was a furnace in the middle of this desolate fog land.

I waited a moment and then saw the faint red light of a Pokémon being released from its Pokeball, and Devan turned to face me.

"Here. This is Brandy. She's going to hug you to death before you turn into a popsicle."

That was the only warning I received before I started suffocating in fluffiness. I heard some muffled shouting, and suddenly I was on top of what felt like a cloud.

"Taaaaaria!" A blue head poked out of the fog and nuzzled me.

"Um, hello," I said awkwardly. Alise chirped as well, and poked her head out of the top of my jacket.

"Okay, let's get moving again," I heard Devan call, and I cuddled into the cotton while the blue Pokémon flew forward.

"Brandy's an Altaria," Devan explained as we journeyed onward. "She can keep you warm for now, but the mountain's cave systems are too cramped for her to fly in, so you'll just have to tough it out, okay?"

"Got it!" I shouted. "Thanks!"

I heard Cara laugh. "As if Devan is cruel enough to let a ten-year old freeze to death."

I stiffened. "Um, I'm twelve…" I muttered, and heard Alise tweet her agreement. She seemed to enjoy taking part in conversations, even if she had no idea what anyone was saying.

The soft noise of them walking alongside me paused for a moment.

"Really?" Devan asked. "Because you're… It's just…"

"I'm short?" I finished for him.

"No. Shortness does not determine age. Just look at Cara," he said jokingly, and I heard an annoyed huff from the mentioned girl. "It's just that you're a bit old to have just started your journey, which is assumable if you never really went farther than Pewter."

I frowned. Why was he so dodgy about it? Was it really so odd to leave later?

"Um, well, I just kind of wasn't very big on leaving home."

"Oh."

We settled into an awkward silence for a while, before the terrain grew even steeper. Devan called out some other Pokémon that I couldn't see very well to light up the area in front of us, and eventually we found an entrance leading into the mountain at what looked to be the face of a cliff.

"Okay, Brandy, return," Devan ordered, and the fluffball that was previously under me vanished. I screeched and crash landed onto Cara, who wasted no time in throwing me over to Devan.

"Let the man dismount before taking away his ride," Cara suggested, and I nodded, scrambling to my feet.

"Agreed," I said, and Alise trilled at the abashed-looking Devan.

"Pop quiz time!" Cara shouted as we stepped into the cave. "What Pokémon inhabits caves or other dark areas and annoys the crap out of anyone passing through?"

I gawked at her. "Um…"

"Oh come on, you've _got_ to know this one," Devan prodded.

"Zubat?"

"We've got a winner!" Cara cheered. "Here's a repel. It's not very strong because Devan and I are dirt-poor, but it should keep some of them away."

The Pokémon Devan called out earlier increased the light as I sprayed a little bit on me. Alise started hacking and Cara sighed.

"She's still pretty weak, isn't she?" she asked.

"Yeah…"

"Well, unless you want to recall her, I don't think you should use anymore."

I considered it for a second. "I think I like her out."

"Suit yourself. Here ya go Devan."

I studied Devan's light Pokémon as we continued onwards. It was blue with what looked like some sort of yellow hat thing. It somewhat resembled a wolf, and its jerky movements and over-alertness led me to believe it might be some sort of electric or normal type.

"He's a Manectric," Devan said, apparently having caught me staring. "They're aggressive electric types that come from Hoenn. He was my starter."

I nodded, feeling mildly impressed but slightly annoyed. He got a kick-butt electric wolf while I got an average bird?

I mean, she was a sweet bird, and I appreciated her presence, but seriously?

We continued onwards, with the chill starting to get to me again. I tried to ignore it, but within an hour of walking I was shivering and shaking all over again. Alise was cuddled into my shirt and jacket, Ambrosii, who had remained woefully silent, was practically a popsicle, and Devan and Cara were as right as rain.

Cara noticed my bad shape and pulled a blanket out of her backpack.

"You need to toughen up," she said, but gave it to me nonetheless.

It provided a bit more warmth, but the fact remained that this place was freezing.

We eventually stopped for the night, and despite my pleas, Devan refused to start a fire lest we attract a horde of curious Zubat.

Ambrosii stared at us as we climbed into our sleeping bags, and I suddenly felt even colder as I fell asleep.

I woke up feeling rather rested. I couldn't remember much of my dream, other than a feeling of safety. Devan, however, looked like he had gone through Cerulean Cave twice.

In other words, he looked massively beat up and tired.

"Did you have a nightmare?" I inquired as Cara used the Manectric's light to find food in her bag.

"I suppose that would be a fitting word for it," Devan said tiredly, and with that we continued onwards.

"So, um, what Pokémon do you have?" I asked Cara after a while.

She shrugged. "A Swalot, Blissey, Jolteon, Wobbuffet, Garchomp and Excadrill."

"Oh." I didn't recognize most of them, but they sounded interesting. "Aren't Jolteon and Garchomp pretty powerful?"

She nodded. "Yeah. All of them are considered to be in the- wait, you know how the tier system works, right?"

"Er, no."

She sighed. "Don't they teach people anything in trainer school anymore?"

"I didn't-"

"Oh. Right. Well, basically you've got your 700-and-some Pokémon, right? Right. And you've got the ones at the top of their game, like Garchomp. Then you've got ones like Sunflora, who aren't winning a battle anytime soon. The tier system ranks Pokémon based on their strength, abilities, and the moves they can learn. There's the Uber-Tier, Overused Tier, Underused, Rarely Used, Never used, and then those that just aren't fully evolved."

"Oh. Okay then," I said. "Um, what rank is Pidgey?"

"Not fully evolved."

"Oh. Duh. Um, I mean, like, Pidgeot."

Cara sighed. "Never used."

"Oh…"

Devan grunted next to me. "Don't worry about it. Really. The Tier systems are a load of BS. Really, they are. The only reason Cara uses them at all is because her dad's obsessed."

"Hey! He's not-" Cara interrupted.

"Yes, he is. He lost his arm for it. But anyways, none of my Pokémon are above Underused, which is supposed to be weak land according to morons like him, and I've won more competitions than he's fought battles."

I nodded, still disappointed.

"So like, who rates the Pokémon?" I asked.

"A researcher from Unova named Colress is the current official tier rater," Devan said. "He's not exactly… He's a bit odd."

I nodded again, and started to speak, but suddenly the ground gave out from under me. I felt myself falling, and I screamed as I clutched Alise to my chest.

Suddenly, my scream was silenced and I was surrounded by water. I scrambled to reach the surface and coughed, but could barely get a breath in as I was pushed under by the current. I blindly grabbed Alise out of my jacket and hoisted her up above me in hope she could escape, but it seemed I was too deep underwater to get her air. I kicked off the blanket that was around me and tried to swim upwards, but it seemed in vain.

_This is it,_ I thought. _I'm doomed_.

Water filled my lungs, and I felt cold thousands of times worse than the cave up above. I couldn't hear anything above the roar of the water around me and I knew I was going to die.

I felt my head smack against something and everything was silenced.

* * *

I don't know what miracle kept me alive, but I woke up with Alise screeching and slashing at my face.

"Alise," I croaked out. "Stop…"

She immediately obeyed and chirped with obvious relief, cuddling into my face. The world was pitch black, and my head, arm and leg hurt badly. The rest of my body was numb from cold, and only my head was above water.

My eyes stung something awful, probably from my contacts getting wet from gross cave water, and I was in too much pain to move much.

But Alise was there, and she seemed to be relatively alright. Slightly wet, perhaps, but overall okay.

I continued laying there, freezing cold and miserable, for what felt like quite a while. The pain refused to go away, so eventually I figured I might as well figure out where I was. I felt around and discovered there was a reasonably sized ledge just behind my head, so I dragged myself up with my non-hurt arm. My messenger bag was, remarkably, still around my neck and the contents were dry.

"Geniuses made this bag Alise," I muttered as I fished around for my flashlight. "Geniuses."

She chirped in response and I felt her crawl under my jacket. She was just as cold, if not colder, than I was, but her presence provided some comfort.

I finally found the light and flicked it on. Stars shot across my vision and I had to wait a few moments before I could actually focus. I was at a bend in this underground river where the water had slowed down quite a bit. There wasn't any living thing in sight.

I then examined myself and promptly threw up into the river.

The arm that hurt looked like it had an extra elbow in it, and the tip of my pinky finger was missing. A large gash ran through my jacket and into my skin, probably completely numbed by the cold. Scratches of all sorts covered my legs, and one of them was probably broken too, but not as badly as my arm. I gingerly set the flashlight down next to me and felt my head. Sure enough, there was a large bump on it, along with some blood.

"How am I alive?" I wondered out loud. Alise chirped and I pulled her out of my jacket to inspect her.

She actually looked to be in pretty decent shape, despite a few scratches. One of her feet appeared to be limp, which wasn't exactly a good thing, but hey, at least it wasn't as bad as I was.

I dug through my bag and fished out a few Potions and berries, and went ahead and applied some medicine to her. She tweeted and flinched at the slight sting, but stayed still for the most part.

I found some gauze and started to wrap it around my arm before howling in pain and giving up. It was much too sore to touch, let alone apply a wrap and pressure to.

I at least congratulated myself on managing to screw up my right arm and not my left. I still had my usable hand available.

I then took a Potion, and, not really caring if it wasn't meant for humans, sprayed some of the medicine on the gash running down my side to cleanse it before wrapping it up. The last thing I needed was an infection while I was stuck here.

Wait a minute.

I was stuck here.

Nothing I did would have any point.

I blinked.

I would die here.

"Oh Mew," I muttered, suddenly feeling very alone. "Oh Mew."

Alise trilled worriedly and I shook my head.

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't give up all hope," I said, but my voice sounded hollow. "Ambrosii wouldn't let me get off the hook that easy, would he?" I gave a nervous laugh. "He would… He would do something." Alise pressed her head into my neck and tweeted. "Yeah… He'll come."

I went ahead and cleaned up some of my other more major cuts, trying not to think of the fact that I would die regardless.

Alise and I sat there for a while, cold, numb, and quiet, just listening to the dull roar of the river.

"I didn't even know rivers could exist in mountains," I said after a while. Alice chirped. "I thought that rivers just went through… I don't know. Just like plains and forests and stuff." Alice chirped again. "And I thought that the coldest days in Pallet, where the temperature rarely dropped below 50, was cold. Weather never really changed much there." Alise tweeted in what sounded like agreement. "Yeah, you lived there too, didn't you? Probably on Route 1. You've never really seen much of the world, either, have you?" Alise trilled and nuzzled into my neck. "Maybe… maybe the journey did some good after all." I laughed bitterly, thinking about it. "What a time to say that. I've got broken bones and a… a concussion." I felt my consciousness slipping again. "I… I've never been so miserable in all my life. I… Sleep sounds good." I yawned. "Yeah. Alise, I'm going to sleep. Good night."

I had no dreams whatsoever. When I woke up who knows how long later, Alise was fast asleep too, I was in pain all over again, my nose was running, and I was freezing. The only improvement was I wasn't as wet as before and the gash on my side was reduced to a very dull ache.

I figured that there had to be something I could do to improve my situation. If I was going to die here, I was going to die here _comfortably_, dammit.

I searched through my bag and found a box of matches and the newspaper I had picked up before about the Dratini. I frowned at it for a second before skimming through the article. Apparently the Dratini had recovered and the police were interrogating Giovanni.

I absently wondered what had changed since then, and thought that perhaps Giovanni would be arrested and I'd be released from my assignments.

I smirked. Maybe all the people I worked for actually ran some insane Pokémon abuse organization. It seemed plausible, with Zager being insane and all.

I left my fantasy and searched farther into my bag before pulling out a small cube. It was a gift from my mom for my most recent birthday. I turned twelve a week before my journey started, and she had sent me something she had picked up from a city near her town in Sinnoh. It supposedly could burn for over fifty hours before wasting away.

I figured it was about time to put it to the test and set it and the newspaper on fire.

Cara and Devan had said not to start fires in caves because it would attract Zubat, but I figured that those creatures wouldn't show up in this part of the cave.

I also found a bag of trail mix, which I gulped down most of before remembering to save some for my feathered companion, who was still sleeping soundly on my shoulder. I searched through the rest of my bag and found a change of clothes, sunglasses, hair and eye stuff, my sleeping bag, and, surprisingly enough, an inflatable beach ball. A giant one that my dad and I always brought down to the beach in Pallet Town. My few friends and I signed it when I was in third grade, and I had drawn countless pictures of Pokémon on it. Not that my drawings were very good of course, but it was something I was rather proud of.

I grinned and blew it up, examining all the signatures and artwork on it before I came across something new.

It was a message from my dad.

_"Hey son, I wanted to wish you the best of luck on your journey! (again) I wanted to remind you that I love you, and so does your mom and sister. We are incredibly proud of you right now, and we're always here for you. Love, Dad."_

I felt tears building up in my eyes, and was reminded that my contacts were probably infected. I held back from crying while I fished out my contact case and took them out.

Then I just broke down. Alise woke up at some point and started cuddling my face and cooing softly, but I couldn't stand it.

I wanted to be at home. I wanted to be at home with my dad and Carson. I wanted to go outside and see that old Xatu that occasionally flew over from Professor Oak's farm to stare at the sun. I wanted to go to Professor Oak's lab with the other kids and learn about Pokémon. I wanted to watch my dad paint elaborate battles between trainers. I wanted to wake up to mixed birdsong and burnt breakfast.

I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed until I was incapable of crying anymore. Alise was there the entire time, cooing and trilling and cuddling and snuggling.

"I want to go home," I told her after a while. "I want to go home."

I wiped my eyes with my good hand and set her on the ground. My clothes were absolutely disgusting now, with snot and tears added to the blood, water, vomit and dirt mix already in them. Needing some sort of mental occupation, as small as it was, I slowly maneuvered myself out of my gross clothes and into the other pair I found in my bag, occasionally yelping in pain when the cloth touched my arm or leg.

I felt a bit better though, and went ahead and fed Alise while I was at it. Then I put everything away in my bag except the cube and beach ball.

After a while, Alise and I were staring into the small fire. It was mesmerizing, for sure, and fairly warm.

Our trance was broken when I heard an inhuman screech. My first reaction was to jump up, but my broken leg prevented me from standing long. Alise cawed from my shoulder, and I held my beach ball up defensively. I heard it again, louder this time, with more voices, and screamed when I saw a swarm of Zubat heading towards us.

Alise bravely sprung off my shoulder, but I knew she would do nothing but injure herself further.

"ALISE!" I shouted as the Zubat dove at her. I did the only thing I could think of as they drew dangerously close. I jumped and grabbed her out of the air.

Suddenly I was freezing again. My hurt hand was somehow gripping the beach ball while my other one held onto Alise, who was chirping and cawing wildly. I let go of her and she scrambled up to the top of my head and nestled into my hair. I then clung onto the beach ball for dear life as we bobbed up and down through the river. The only thing I could hear above the roar of the water was my own screams, which were occasionally cut off my the sickly cold liquid splashing into my mouth. Alise's talons were digging into my head, my entire body save my arms were submerged in the freezing water, everything hurt to a point that normally was unimaginable, and yet I felt nothing.

Nothing except how raw my throat was from screaming so loud.

I saw land though, and I desperately started kicking towards it, still screaming. There was light, and there was land. I splashed and kicked and at some point let go of the beach ball, and I barely latched onto the ground. I fell silent as I felt someone grab my arm, and suddenly I was free. I gasped for breath as they pulled me onto the floor, and then puked all over myself.

Someone called my name.

I looked up, still gasping, eyes unfocused, and finally was able to discern Devan's face.

"Holy shit, it is you!" he shouted and pulled me up into a hug.

"You found him?" I heard someone shout from a ways away.

"Yes!" Devan responded, and moments later I was being squeezed to death from both sides.

I sobbed and rested my head on his shoulder as he relaxed his grip on me.

"You were gone for _three days_," he cried, and gently set me back on the ground. "I… I surveyed the area after you disappeared, and you… We were right above the river, right? And there was a cliff nearby, but the wall cut us off from it. It was really weird geography. And it was just… I don't know. You just stepped somewhere wrong or something, and you just disappeared."

"We thought you were _dead_." I looked over and saw Cara, and noticed she was actually crying. "I-We were so scared. I mean, like, I know we don't all know each other that well, but, we just… We thought we were going to end up travelling with you for awhile. Your Sigilyph seemed bent on all of us grouping together, anyways, and you know we just thought you were a pretty okay kid, and Devan actually- no wait nevermind, but we just… Just don't scare us like that again!"

I didn't really process it all, and instead threw up again. Devan frowned.

"Wait, what happened to your arm? And your head? And… oh Mew you need medical assistance. We have to get going now," he said, standing up. "Erg, I can't call out Brandy to carry you. This cave is too small. Greg's too small and you'd get shocked. Um… Salvador!"

A giant yellow bull appeared next to me, and I shrieked, attempting to roll away. Devan, however, stopped me and gently placed me on top of the creature.

"Cara, I need rope."

I struggled and sobbed as he tied me to the massive creature, and Alise, for the record, scratched his hand, but nonetheless I ended up roped to the behemoth.

"Come on. Let's get going."

I passed out as it started moving.

* * *

A/N: Okay, sorry for taking forever... Hopefully this chapter was interesting though and kind of made up for my insane lateness!

Or not...

Well, anyways, please review and let me know what I did right and want needs some work. I've been keeping all of your advice in mind as I write, and hopefully you've seen some improvement in all of it. Your reviews are very helpful, especially since I'm still a beginning writer and have pretty much no clue what I'm doing.

Oh, and let me know if Cara seems like too much of a Mary Sue at the moment. I mean, either way, she will most certainly not be and you will find out why in future chapters, but for now, I'm kind of curious what you guys think of her. More importantly, let me know what you think of Devan. He's going to have quite a bit to do in future chapters. And, of course, let me know what other advice you have for me and such.

Thanks for sticking with the story this long, despite me being horrible with updates, and bye for now!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokémon. This is fanwork and I do not profit from it.**

I woke up in too much pain to really notice my surroundings. My arm hurt, my head hurt, my leg hurt, my side hurt, my feet hurt, my chest hurt, my hands hurt, my throat hurt, just about everything hurt.

Someone was saying something, I think, but my head was pounding so much I couldn't figure out what it was. I didn't really care, either, unless they were providing some way to make the pain just _end_. It felt like I had been trampled by a thousand Tauros and dragged through a minefield. I didn't even know it was possible to be this miserable.

It took a while, but eventually I started remembering what happened. It was difficult to focus on certain events though, as my entire mind felt like it was scrambled. I was in a cave, I nearly drowned, Alise was there, Alise was relatively okay, Alise was okay when I got on the Tauros behemoth creature thing, my arm was broken, my beach ball was lost, my leg was broken, my side was cut…

But Alise was okay, and that's what mattered.

My arm suddenly flared up even worse in pain and a wave of nausea swept through me. My eyes shot open and I struggled to get up before vomiting all over myself.

I think someone shouted, but I couldn't figure out what they said as I continued puking all over the place. My side screamed in protest as I fell onto my back, and my throat burned even more.

Mew apparently had mercy though, because I fell back asleep moments later.

When I came around again, everything seemed to be going in slow motion. I felt completely numb, but not exactly in a bad way.

I eventually opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. I grinned. It was white and bright, kind of like the sun. The sun was a good thing. The sun provided warmth to the rest of the world. Solrock looked like the sun.

I paused on that thought. Solrock actually didn't really look like the sun, not a whole lot. They looked like how little kids drew the sun.

I stated this out loud, tripping over the words. My tongue felt rather numb, too, and didn't really cooperate. My voice sounded really funny, too. Funny enough that I started laughing.

After all, the whole thing was really funny, wasn't it? I laughed harder. My chest didn't hurt at all. It was still numb. People were talking around me, but I wasn't really sure why. Did they know that Solrock didn't actually look like the sun?

I repeated the fact, just to make sure they knew. They could find it funny too, and laugh too.

I grinned and started giggling after I pointed it out again. They didn't laugh with me, but I didn't care. They could be sad and depressed if they wanted to be.

I vaguely wondered what Alise and Ambrosii would think of this. Alise would probably find it funny if she could actually understand what I said, and Ambrosii would probably be mad and all warrior-like and stuff.

I snickered at the idea of Ambrosii standing stoically next to a Solrock under the sun. In a rain forest. Because Ambrosii came from the desert and he probably doesn't like rain forests.

I laughed even harder and stared at the ceiling some more. I decided I liked the ceiling. It was rather comforting.

I informed it of that.

The people around me abruptly stopped talking and I fell asleep again.

I woke up again, this time everything seeming relatively normal and, sadly, not very funny. All my previous pains were reduced to dull aches, with something soft nuzzled into my neck. Something was beeping, loudly and annoyingly, and everything was dark save a green light flashing periodically.

I groaned and tried to sit up, but ended up flopping back down on my pillow. My leg was elevated and my arm refused to move. I laid my head back down, and the soft thing next to my neck quickly returned.

It chirped, too.

"…Alise?" I croaked.

My fateful bird chirped again and scrambled up onto my face. I tried not to sneeze as her feathers tickled my nose, and eventually she settled down on my forehead.

"Alise, where am I?" I asked her sleepily. She trilled and lightly pecked my nose. I sighed. "You're not very helpful, you know that?" She chirped happily. "Of course you don't," I muttered.

"I'm thirsty," I loudly declared to absolutely nobody. "And I'm hungry. I'm starving, actually. It feels like I haven't eaten in years, which is impossible because I'd die within a month without food. But that's what it feels like."

I heard somebody mutter something nearby and practically jumped a foot in the air. How I could do that lying down, I'm not really sure.

"You woke up again?" a sleepy voice asked. I identified it as Devan and calmed down slightly. "Wait, are you high on pain meds again? Hang on, lemme get my camera."

I froze for a moment.

"I'm just hungry and thirsty," I said. "And what does pain medication have to do with your phone?"

Devan paused. "Never mind," he said awkwardly. "Um, hang on, let me contact the doctor and let him know you woke up. I'll call Cara in a little bit too."

"Doctor? Wait, I'm in a hospital?"

Devan snorted. "No, Cara and I have magical healing powers which we used to expertly wrap up your arm and leg and everything else on your body that you managed to smash up. Yes, we got you to a hospital."

I stared at the ceiling for a while.

"How long have I been here?"

"Um, I think that tomorrow-, no wait, it's today isn't it? Yeah, it's four in the morning… You've been here exactly a week now."

I blinked. "A week?"

"Yeah."

"Have you been here that entire time?"

I heard Devan shift uncomfortably. "I… Kind of, yes…"

I attempted to sit up again, just to miserably fail and fall back into the bed. Devan sighed.

"Just stay still, okay? I'll call the doctor in and they can get you food and whatever. Lemme just find the buzzer thing."

The doctor showed up a short while later. He turned the lights on when he walked in, nearly blinding me. Eventually my eyes adjusted and I saw that the room, like most hospital rooms, was shockingly white with a couple red armchairs that didn't look exactly comfortable. Devan had propped his feet up on the edge of my bed and looked rather exhausted.

My attention snapped back to the doctor when he said my name.

"Yeah, that'd be me," I muttered, fighting back a yawn. He nodded.

"Well, I should hope so," he said lightly. "Anyways, I see you've woken up. How do you feel?"

"Like I was caught in the middle of a Tauros stampede."

He nodded. "Well, considering what you went through, that would be understandable. You should feel very lucky, though. Most people wouldn't have survived all that."

I shrugged, ignoring the pain that shot up my arm. "Can I have some food, please? And water?"

"No."

I stared at him incredulously for a moment. "Why not?"

The doctor examined me for a moment. "Well, son, I don't know if you remember much of this, but for the first three days of you being here you threw up countless times. We have an IV in you so you stay hydrated but it's going to be a while before we can give you actual food."

"But I'm hungry," I whined. "I won't throw up again! I promise!"

The doctor looked like he was about to deny my request again, but Devan came to my rescue. "Can we just get him some chicken broth for now? I can make sure he doesn't have too much too quickly. I mean, like, just a few sips for now and then see if he stomachs it."

Or, well, not entirely to my rescue, but close enough.

The doctor shrugged. "I would recommend waiting a little longer, but if you can monitor him then I can see if we can get some broth. Now, did you want to hear what all was ailing you? I was going to tell you earlier, but you insisted on getting food."

"Um, sure…"

"Okay. First off, you broke both your radius and ulna in your right arm. In your left leg you broke your fibula, the smaller bone there. The nerves in your left foot are permanently damaged, and you crushed your two smallest toes. You also managed to get yourself a concussion, but luckily you didn't have much of a second-impact concussion, so the damage wasn't as bad as it could've been. I've seen people survive a lot worse regarding head trauma, so you'll be fine there. You lost the last joint of your pinky finger on your right arm, and if you'd like we can talk about prosthetics, but in my professional opinion, I don't think it's worth it as the finger is still somewhat functional and the rest of your hand is fine. You cut open your right side pretty badly as well, and it did get infected, but it wasn't too bad and the infection has been fully fought off. You can leave the hospital tomorrow if you can stomach the food and as long as your friend here can monitor your diet and you stay in a wheelchair. Normally I'd give you crutches, but your arm's broken so that won't work. Take it easy for a while, I recommend not doing any strenuous activities, and you should be fine. Check up with a doctor once a week and then you'll eventually get your casts removed."

I nodded blankly, having zoned him out after "concussion". "Okay, thank you."

He smiled politely. "No problem. The broth should show up here shortly. Want me to leave the light on?"

"Yeah."

I turned to Devan as the doctor walked out.

"You've been sitting in that chair for a week for me?" I double-checked.

"Yeah. Ambrosii's been here too, but he took off early this morning. Cara dropped in every day and spent the first night here, too," Devan explained quickly.

"I mean-it's okay, but, like, I don't get why. I don't even know your last name," I said.

Devan sighed. "Well, it's… It's complicated. I mean… This'll probably sound kinda weird but… I… just… you know what? Never mind."

I stared at him in utter bewilderment.

"No, you can say it."

"I'd rather not."

"C'mon, please?"

He scowled at me. "Maybe later. But for now, you need food."

When the broth finally arrived, Devan only allowed me two sips at first. Then it was a sip every minute. Then he got sick of me whining about it and after ten minutes he just let me drink the whole thing. He called Cara at 5:30, and she groggily said she'd be there in an hour. Ambrosii showed up a short while afterwards, seeming rather pleased about something. Alise eventually moved to my hair and made a massive rat nest out of that, and all was well in the world.

Well, no it wasn't. When Cara came, she had a few questions that I really didn't want to answer.

I mean, she was nice and all, and was happy I woke up, but then she also asked Devan if he asked me about _it_ yet, acting like _it_ was some very special thing. Devan said no.

Then she demanded to know why my eyes were red.

I blinked, horror settling into my stomach.

"Your hair is looking awfully pale, too," she said. "I mean, like, I don't mean to be mean about it, but it's just… you owe us some answers. We saved your life and Devan sat in this stupid chair for a week worried about you."

"I…" I started. "Um…"

Devan and Cara waited patiently as I tried to think of what to say. They probably wouldn't fall for any lie I told them, so I suppose there really wasn't much of a choice.

I frowned and tried to force my increasing nausea to go away.

"I'm an albino," I blurted after a few moments of silence. "At school kids made fun of me for it."

Cara examined me. "Well, you're not in school anymore, so why keep hiding?"

"I don't want more people to call me a demon child."

Devan nodded. "Understandable, but they honestly wouldn't do that much. There's a few religious groups who would either shun you or worship you, but by and large there's so many freaks on the planet that you wouldn't stand out much, or at least not enough to be ostracized."

I shrugged and rubbed my eyes. "I'd prefer to stay hidden."

"Suit yourself."

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully. Ambrosii happily hovered towards the middle of the room while Devan rambled off stories about battling in the league. Cara seemed a bit crestfallen during some of the tales of how he and his Pokémon made it through Victory Road, and the teamwork involved, but she happily told talked about how her Swalot fought off a swarm of Beedrill when she was injured in a forest in Hoenn. She didn't mention her other Pokémon though, which I found odd, and Swalot, for whatever reason, didn't quite strike me as an Uber-tier Pokémon. They always seemed scary and strong, but not very effective in battles.

I received more broth in the afternoon, along with a packet of crackers, most of which Alise stole. The next day the doctor showed up, got me situated in a wheelchair, reminded Devan to keep me on a diet of soup, bread and bananas for a week and sent me on my merry way.

And by merry, I mean I instantly demanded that I be wheeled over to the nearest videophone so I could call my dad and inform him of my condition, and perhaps take a break and return to Pallet Town for a while.

Sadly, nothing ever seems to go my way, as was evident when I was finally able to key in the number at the Pokémon Center's videophone room.

My call was answered on the second ring, and my dad appeared on the screen, smiling but looking slightly tired.

"Dad!"

"Hey son. What's going on?" he asked, and I noticed his voice sounded slightly strained. Thankfully, our last argument seemed to have been forgiven and forgotten.

"Um, well, I just got out of the hospital," I said cheerfully, and his eyes widened.

"What? Hospital?! Wait, why wasn't I informed of this? What happened?" he demanded.

I gave a brief summary of the Mt. Moon incident and informed him of my overall condition.

"I… Shoot. I'm sorry, I should've been there. I just… Nobody called me or anything," he said, shaking his head. "Um, but there's something else I need to talk to you about, too. I tried getting ahold of you, but the last time you were apparently seen by the Kanto Postal Service was in Pewter, and they said that it would be normal if you were still in Mt. Moon and not to worry. I guess I know why." He chuckled darkly and fell silent.

I nodded for him to continue.

"I'm moving to Sinnoh to be with your mom."

I froze, letting the words sink in like Ekans bites.

"You're _what_?" I said, words coming out a bit colder than I wanted them to.

My dad frowned and rubbed his eyes. "I'm moving to Sinnoh to be with your mom," he repeated, saying each word slowly.

Questions immediately filled my mind, demanding answers, but I only had the voice to speak one of them.

"Why?"

"I just… Son, I've done my part. You're off on your journey now, you've probably made some friends and if you haven't yet you _will_, you have your own life now. There's nothing left for me here anymore," he explained.

"But… but what about staying in your hometown?" I choked out. "What about wanting to stay near Professor Oak, with all his Pokémon you could paint? What about staying near Grandma and Grandpa's graves? What about all the reasons you had to stay _before_?"

He sighed. "It's time for me to move on. Floaroma Town has beautiful meadows of Combee for me to paint, and… It's just time for me to go."

"_Dad_," I said sternly, starting to get angry. "You refused to move with Mom to Sinnoh before with me. And now that I have a job, you're _leaving_?"

Dad rubbed his eyes again. "I… you know those reasons were never very good, and now half of them don't work anymore with you gone and your grandparents passed away."

"Then why didn't we all just move _before_?" I all but shouted, sadness replaced by anger.

"I had my reasons!" he boomed, his face reddening, a sure sign he was done being nice.

"You just said those reasons were stupid!"

"There were more," he snapped. He and I glared at each other for a while before he sighed and rubbed his temples. "Look, there were more. Reasons concerning things far beyond all of our power. Reasons that your mom was scared of. Reasons that I promise you'll discover later. But now my place is with your mother. I just… I hated staying here when she found her place elsewhere. You understand. I didn't like being left behind any more than you did. You have a life now, without me. I still love you. Don't ever forget that. But you and I can't be in Pallet anymore. We just… You're destined for greater things, and me, I just need to move on now. I'm… I wanted to contact you earlier, I really did. I was actually considering moving since you left, and I'm actually going to be gone next week."

I didn't say anything else before cutting the call off and breaking down crying. I was there for quite a while before Cara knocked on the door and entered, carrying Alise. The little bird wasted no time in diving into my lap and providing whatever comfort she could.

"…Are you okay?" Cara asked quietly, and I nodded, wiping my tears away before collapsing into sobs again. I felt my chair get wheeled out of the videophone room and into the lobby of the center.

"What happened?" Devan asked, sounding slightly concerned. I shook my head and wiped my eyes again, trying to quit crying.

"My dad's moving to Sinnoh next week." I forced back tears and willed my nose to quit running.

"Oh," Cara said, sounding slightly sympathetic. "Well, that sucks."

I nodded.

"You just seem to be full of bad luck, don't you?" Devan said, sounding rather contemplating. "Well, aren't you going to be away from your hometown anyways? I mean, it's not like you're going to be seeing him a whole lot anyways."

I shrugged. "He's just… He's always been there." I decided to not say anything more than that.

We all fell silent while Ambrosii, who seemed like he didn't really notice or care about the situation, made a few odd noises and floated around the lobby.

"So, anyways," Cara said, swiftly changing the subject, "you need new clothes. Badly. And, since the clothes you had before weren't very attractive anyways, and because you're off the hook from your job until you recover courtesy of my amazing communication skills, I figured we could get you something decent from here and then go to Celadon for a while!"

"Celadon?" I asked. "Wait, where are we now?"

"Cerulean City. We really aren't too far away from Celadon, actually. It'll probably be a two or three day journey with you in a wheelchair, though," Devan explained.

"Okay then… But how'd you get me off of work?"

"Devan was snooping through your bag and found the stuff you had to deliver, and since we didn't really know the deadline for its delivery I dropped it off at the mail counter and half-explained the situation. They're really lenient about things, y'know? Anyways, they said whatever and you could be on break until you can walk again."

I nodded, and the plan was starting to sound pretty good. Devan, however, wanted to show me Cerulean Cape before we left, which ended up taking longer than planned as he ended up taking on the Nugget Bridge Challenge.

As interesting as it was to watch him battle, I kind of wanted to get going. Cara, despite having been off meeting up with some old friends or something of the like, showed up midway through the third battle, asked Devan if he was seriously wasting everyone's time like that, and walked off again.

The one part of the whole challenge that really stuck out to me was Devan's Pokémon. One of them was what I recognized to be a Kabutops, which were supposedly extinct. There was something highly unnerving about watching it move. It glided along the land stealthily, and slashed out with hate and malice. I let out a breath I wasn't aware I had been holding when he finally recalled the beast.

However, we eventually made across, and Devan wheeled me all the way to the edge of the cape. I couldn't help but notice it was slightly crowded with couples holding hands and kissing.

I pointed this out, and Devan blushed a bit before laughing nervously.

"Yeah, this is a popular place for dates," he admitted. "But I just wanted to see the sunset before we left. I've only been at the cape once before, and it has a few special memories for me. It's also something that I think you would appreciate watching."

And when the sky turned orange as the sun sunk behind the sea, I understood why.

We left the next day.

Devan pushed me along in my wheelchair while Alise nestled in my hair. She seemed to be fascinated with it since I lost my messenger hat. Ambrosii was still seemingly pleased, and flew right next to Devan. I couldn't help but notice the teen was a bit uneasy with the Sigilyph so close to him, but there wasn't much I could really do about that.

We were almost to Saffron when Cara huffed and stopped us.

"Look, you're all wrapped up nice and cozy in your wheelchair, right? You don't have to do _anything_," she said, slightly accusingly. "So why can't you carry our stuff? It makes everything easier for us."

I had no chance to protest before she dumped her backpack in my lap.

"That's a bit fairer!" she said cheerfully, and we continued onwards.

Now, there's a stereotype about girls overpacking for their Pokémon journey. I never really believed it, partially because I've never really known any girls that well. But Cara's backpack weighed at least 60 pounds and was twice as big as Devan's pack.

"What did you pack?" I asked, bewildered. "Your pet bricks?"

Cara rolled her eyes. "It's just hair and makeup stuff, and food. It's not _that_ much."

"How much makeup do you _wear?_"

"Enough to cover an Aggron," Devan said.

"I do not!" Cara exclaimed indignantly. "I just put on some foundation, blush, mascara, eyeshadow, eyeliner, and then cover-up some scratches and such!"

"I lost you at foundation," I said.

Devan laughed. "Girls and their makeup; a mystery that will never be solved."

Cara just shook her head, a small smile on her face. "At least girls can compliment each other without their sexuality being questioned."

Devan rolled his eyes. "Cara, Cara, Cara. How little you understand of the world. If I walked up to our handicapped friend here and told him he was doing pretty awesome for nearly drowning and smashing his head against a few rocks or whatever, nobody would be calling me gay."

"But you can't compliment how he looks."

"Well, duh, no. That's just weird," Devan said. "I mean, he's wearing pretty much the same thing he wears every day."

They continued to bicker until we entered Saffron's city limits. Cara immediately took over as soon as we entered the place. I had watched the buildings from a distance while Devan and Cara argued, and had been surprised at how tall the structures were, but walking (or rolling) down the streets alongside them was something else altogether. They were bright, loud, and hid the sky, filling it with smoke and smog.

Seeing as the sun was already almost entirely below the horizon, we spent the night in the Pokémon Center, then continued on the next day.

We reached Celadon in mid-afternoon, and, unlike Saffron, the sky was clean and parks were a common sight. The shopping mall reached for the sky, which, before Devan and I could say anything, Cara dragged us into.

"Okay, Devan, you look like crap and I refuse to give up on forcing some fashion into you, and you, my little friend, just need new clothes badly," she stated, pulling us into the elevator. Ambrosii clicked his disapproval as his eye smacked against the ceiling, and he sunk until he was almost touching the ground. "Let's see here… Ah, there we go, fourth floor."

I sighed as she rolled me out, with Devan awkwardly trailing behind. Ambrosii just seemed grateful to be in a higher-ceilinged area.

"Who should we start with?" Cara asked the psychic. Ambrosii stared at her dully before flying over to the windows. He still watched us, though.

Cara huffed. "Well, he's no fun. Devan, I choose you."

She ran off with him in tow before I could ask what I was supposed to do. Eventually I managed to wheel myself over to where Ambrosii was floating. We stared out at Celadon for who knows how long together. The shiny Sigilyph seemed more at ease now, and a lot calmer than when I first met him in Viridian Forest.

Neither of us made a noise (or mental picture) for a while, and Alise apparently got sick of the silence and tweeted at him. Ambrosii responded with an amused grunt. Whatever he said seemed to annoy the little bird further and she trilled before pecking his wing. The psychic gave her a glare before sending a weak whirlwind around her, pushing her right into my face. I sneezed.

"Really Ambrosii?" I sighed, pulling the flustered Pidgey off my face. He gave what I believed would be the Pokémon version of an annoyed huff and continued staring out the window.

Cara appeared moments later with a tired-looking Devan. His arms were filled with clothes.

"Seriously Cara," he said, "how am I supposed to carry all of this?"

"Look, we'll pick four outfits after I'm done with him," she said with a hint of irritation in her voice.

"I don't have room-"

"Toss out your old stuff."

"But-"

Cara gave him a glare that rivaled an Arbok's. "We'll sort this out later," she said, and wheeled my chair away. I sent a pleading look to Devan, who after a moment's hesitation, dumped his clothes off next to Ambrosii and hurried after us.

I thanked Mew that she went easy on me, if only because it took ten minutes for me to change into anything with all my casts. Devan appeared to be bored the entire time, which was highly understandable. Eventually she finally decided on some outfits for us, and managed to convince Devan to pay for it all.

Well, maybe blackmail was more like it. I just sat there confused while Devan blushed like a Clefairy and Cara whispered something in his ear. When he shook his head, Cara raised her eyebrow.

"You clearly believe that I won't do this for the sake of our friendship," she said mysteriously, and I couldn't help but laugh at the false-serious look on her face. "However, you are mistaken, as it'll probably do you more harm than good in the end, but that's besides the point. You're rich and I'm not, cough up the credit card."

"But I don't even want this new stuff," he whined.

"You'll thank me later."

He sighed. "Fine. But I can keep my jacket, and we only get two of these… things."

"They're called outfits, and fine. Deal."

They shook hands and ten minutes later we were back on the streets of Celadon.

We spent the rest of the afternoon eating ice cream and wandering around parks. Devan pointed out a sign advertising a Pokémon festival that started tomorrow, and Cara noted that there were a lot of people who had been wandering around with rare Pokémon. We saw some workers setting up tents and stands with all sorts of merchandise and games.

"We should go," Devan said. "But for now, the sun's setting, and we need food."

That evening we hung around in the Pokémon Center Lobby to watch the news. I was shocked at what I saw.

The police had arrested Giovanni for finding sufficient evidence of Second Degree Pokémon Abuse on the Dratini, and his trial would start in two days.

"Pokémon abuse?" a trainer who had also been watching the news demanded. "A gym leader? That can't be. I mean, we can all agree Giovanni's not the nicest guy around, but he's the strongest leader in all of Kanto."

"Maybe that's why he's the strongest," another speculated.

Cara frowned. "Yeah, but even so, what would a ground-type trainer be doing with Dratinis anyways? This just doesn't make sense."

Devan shrugged. "Only time will tell."

* * *

A/N: And here we are with Chapter 8 ^.^ Thank you for your reviews, you've all been a great help. I've been keeping all of your advice in mind as I write, and hopefully I improved a little bit. As usual, let me know what I can work on and what I'm doing well.

Anyways, there's something I need some opinions on. "Mailboy" is to be part of a series of sorts. I'm still deciding on how many other stories are going to be part of it, but I'd like to know something now.

Do you think it would be a better idea to start writing and posting those other stories now or do you think I should wait until I finish Mailboy? If I wait until I finish Mailboy, then I'll be able to dedicate more time to finishing it and, with school starting in two days, I might not have enough time to work on two or three stories at the same time. However, a lot of the ideas for the other stories in the series are still fresh and new and exciting in my head, and waiting might result in me getting tired of the Mailboy universe, with me feeling like everything's a bit stale and done now, and the other stories might never get written. I mean, they might, but I can't guarantee anything. Would you guys even want other stories that go along with Mailboy?

On a different note, who else is excited for Pokemon: The Origins? If I had a Celebi I'd go into October now, personally.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own or have any association with Pokémon. This is fanwork and I do not profit from it.**

The next morning found our group at the Pokémon Festival in Castelia's central park. It was crowded, to say the least, which made it difficult to get around in a wheelchair. Most people were nice enough to let me through, though, which Cara took advantage of. She always got us to the front of the crowd during performances and was plotting on how to cut lines before Alise flew over to her shoulder and smacked her face for almost pushing me off a ledge.

There were Spheals juggling balls and Walrein juggling Spheals, top Pokémon coordinators holding display battles on stages, clowns on unicycles with Mr. Mimes, and fishermen trying to con little kids into buying Magikarp.

"Hey, look, an Evolution Shop!" Cara exclaimed, pointing at a tent with a painting of an Eevee on the front. Cara nearly smashed me through a few bystanders in the way before Devan grabbed her.

"If you want to keep pushing him, then please don't kill anyone while doing so," he said, and she slowed down. Alise gratefully chirped at Devan.

"Um, excuse me for asking," I said as Cara continued to muscle her way over there, "but what's an Evolution Shop?"

"They sell items that make certain Pokémon evolve," Devan explained in between apologies to kids who almost got run over by my wheelchair. "Eevees are their mascot, because, well, Eevee is the Evolution Pokémon. Cara, watch where you're going, please."

The inside of the tent was cool and crowded. Counters and glass cases were everywhere, showing off stones, cloths, incenses, and oddly shaped claws, scales and fangs.

"Can I help you?" someone asked, and we looked over to see a tall woman standing behind a cash register. There was an Eevee on her head, and a Leafeon sleeping in her arm. A Vaporeon that had previously been trying to balance on her shoulder shot off to greet us as soon as she spoke.

The scaly creature crashed into my lap, and I yelped in pain when it rubbed its head against my wounded side. I gently tried to push it off; it decided to lick my hand instead.

"Someone's affectionate," Devan muttered, watching the Vaporeon carefully crawl up and around my neck.

"Oh, don't worry. He's like that around everyone," the woman said, hurrying over. "Are you alright?"

I nodded, trying not to flinch from the cold radiating off the water Pokémon.

"Anyways," Cara said loudly, "I was wondering if you had a Shiny Stone."

"What do you need a Shiny Stone for?" Devan asked incredulously. Cara ignored him.

"It doesn't have to be one of those purified ones, just one that can at least start evolution," she explained.

The woman nodded. "The Shiny Stones are over this way. Rain, leave the poor boy's cast alone," she said scoldingly. The Vaporeon perked up at the mention of its name's and withdrew from my arm. It decided that it was time to return to its owner, and hopped back onto her shoulder. "My name's Abbi, by the way. This is Moss the Leafeon and the Eevee on my head is Coal. He's going to be a Flareon one day," she explained proudly. The Eevee mewed in agreement and sat up a bit taller, eying us with contempt.

"Cool," Devan said. "Do you have any others with you?"

Abbi nodded. "I left most of them at home, but I also have Volt, who's also an Eevee, with me. I had to put him in the back room though. He's Rain's brother, and the two act just alike, except for the fact that Volt's a bit more hyper."

"Perfect for a Jolteon then," Cara said, nodding. "I have one. His name's Needle."

Abbi frowned. "Well, he's not… He doesn't really want to evolve into one, even though being a Jolteon matches his personality perfectly. And plus, I have Spark, who was my first Eevee. I'm not quite sure what to do with him, honestly."

"That's too bad," Devan said. "Can we see him?"

"Um, sure. Here's the Shiny Stones, by the way. The ones on the far end are P40,000 and completely purified, and the ones down here can go as low as P7,500. They can start evolution, but it'll take up to three years for the full change to take place. The ones down there take a week," Abbi said, and Cara happily went about examining them. "Let me go get Volt," she told us, and ran back to the counter, Eevees still in hand.

Moments later the furriest Eevee I had ever seen sped across the room, leapt onto Devan's head, and then launched himself onto my lap. Volt studied me for a moment before nudging my un-injured hand and letting out what almost sounded like a purr when I started petting him. Alise angrily chirped at him and climbed down into my lap. She tried pushing him off of him, and the much bigger Volt wrapped his tail around her and pulled her up against him. He licked her head a few times before happily resting his head against my chest.

Alise chirped angrily again and pecked his side, but Volt ignored her.

Meanwhile, Abbi went off to assist Cara, who was asking about various paying plans.

"Well, I've never heard of a Pokémon against evolving," Devan said, crouching down to see Volt better. "Nor have I ever seen an Eevee with that long of fur. Sheesh, haven't you ever seen a groomer?"

Volt yapped and licked his hand as Devan reached out to pet him.

"You're a friendly little guy, at le-" Devan was cut off by the ground suddenly shaking. Alise chirped and leapt up to my head just as something smashed into the side of the tent, causing it to collapse.

I shrieked and flew out of my wheelchair, momentarily putting weight on my bad foot before rolling under a table as red vinyl fell over everything. Volt and Alise appeared next to me moments later, with Alise staring alertly outside from her perch on my arm.

Devan eventually crawled into our mini-shelter, and I figured that Cara and Abbi had hidden somewhere else.

Which just left…

"Ambrosii!" I shouted, suddenly panicking. There was no way the Sigilyph could fit under any table in the room, and I doubt he could've escaped in time. I started to push my way out into the collapsed remains of the tent.

"Wait!" Devan called, grabbing my cast. I winced as he pulled me back. "Ambrosii can take care of himself. Trust me, psychics, especially fast ones like him, can handle this. He probably has enough power to keep himself safe for a while. We need to find Cara."

I sat back down, awkwardly shifting my injured leg as to not hurt it more.

"She's probably underneath the table across from us if she made it out in time," he continued, "along with Abbi. I need to make sure though, and the last thing I need is for you to go hurt yourself even worse. Stay right here, okay?"

He disappeared to the left underneath the mass of red vinyl as I sat quietly with Volt and Alise, feeling useless and helpless.

A while later Devan reappeared with a sobbing Cara behind him, and a green mass that was hissing and screeching for all it was worth. A closer look revealed it was Moss the Leafeon. Devan had something in his arms too. It looked like a giant fluffy Eevee with red fur.

Devan opened his mouth to speak but Cara cut him off.

"She didn't stand a chance," she cried. "A-a display case, the tallest one, came crashing down when she wasn't expecting it and suddenly her n-neck snapped." Cara hiccuped and clutched Moss, who was still howling his head off, to her chest. "I… Coal tried to push it off of her but with the weight of the tent it just got worse and she couldn't move, and I grabbed Moss and dove under the table. R-Rain's still alive, but barely. I c-couldn't touch him, he was so bloody and in so much pain and-"

Devan gently pulled her too him as I stared in shock.

"Calm down," he whispered and gently unwrapped her arms from the Leafeon, who ran off to the edge of the tent and glared daggers at us. He then set the red Eevee on the ground and stared at it woefully. An awkward silence settled in.

"That's Volt."

I blinked.

"The display case that fell had one of each stone in it, and Volt happened to crash land into a fire stone. Um, he's obviously not done evolving, but… uh… there's no turning back now. He probably would've died if his mind hadn't shut down and went into evolution mode."

Devan sighed as Cara gripped his shirt and sobbed harder. He whispered something to her and she nodded and wiped her eyes before crawling over to the far edge of the table and pushing her way through the vinyl.

"I need you to watch over Volt while I go get Rain," he ordered, and I nodded dumbly, wondering how all of this happened so fast. I scooted my way over to the evolving Eevee as Devan disappeared.

I would've thought Volt was dead if not for the slight heaving of his chest as he breathed. His already-long fur had grown out more, and had a reddish tint to it. He felt feverishly warm, and his ears were larger than before. It looked like someone had bleached his neck and tail, and his mouth, which was cracked open with a small stream of blood pouring onto the ground, had sharp fangs. His eyes were squeezed shut as if he was in great pain.

And he wasn't even done yet.

However, what he was going through was dwarfed when Devan surface with Rain. I could hardly look at the Vaporeon, whose skin was bruised a deep shade of purple, tail missing its fin, ruff shredded to pieces, and nose smashed and covered with blood. One of his legs was bent in the wrong direction, and his canine teeth had dug pools of blood in his lower lip.

"Now what?" I asked, looking away from the two Pokémon.

"We get ourselves down to the end of the table and wait for Cara," Devan said. "But I don't know how that's going to work for you. You can't crawl and you can't roll." He sighed and shook his head. "Maybe I can carry you somehow. Let me just get the Pokémon down there and then we'll work something out."

I numbly nodded and watched as he awkwardly rested Volt over his neck and pulled Rain to his chest with one arm and maneuvered his way away from me. Moss followed eventually, closely monitoring the two Eevee brothers.

Cara appeared as he neared the edge, and threw a bunch of Potions at him and told him to stay put. He quickly obeyed and she left. What felt like hours later she returned with a box and handed it to him before power-crawling down to me. Mascara lined tear tracks on her face from earlier, and she was shaking, but she wasted no time in pulling me onto her back and getting me over to where Devan and the Eevees were. My injured arm and leg hurt, and I felt the gauze on my side get wet indicating the wound was reopened, but I got down there fast enough.

"Cara, you should've been more careful," Devan scolded, setting down Rain in favor of examining me.

"Then you should've gotten him yourself," she snapped, but her heart wasn't in it. She studied the Vaporeon with an unreadable expression on her face. "You know," she said after a while, "he kinda looks like you did after swimming through Mt. Moon. With all the blood and bones and stuff." Her face turned slightly green.

"I wasn't _that_ bad," I said.

"No, you were worse," Cara said in a rather small voice for someone usually so loud and bossy. "Much worse. Dear Mew, how did you survive?"

I shrugged and silence filled the air once again. Devan was the one to break it again as he gently peeled the gauze wrap off my side and replace it with the stuff Cara found.

"So, what's happening outside?"

"Chaos. There's a fleet of fliers out there, with Dragon-types in the lead followed by Staraptors and Unfezents and a few Pidgeots. Dodrio and Rapidash carried people over land. It's some sort of army out there or something-all wearing black and red suits, armed to the teeth. Taking all the Pokémon they can and their trainers. Arceus, Devan, I don't know what they want to do with them, but it's barbaric. They're putting the people in these cages, _cages_, and subduing the Pokémon with whatever they can. And when they resist-sweet Mew, they sic Pokémon on them. Pokémon on _humans_." Cara looked pretty shaken. "Blood everywhere. I-you know I can't stand all that gore! I beelined for the nurse stand and grabbed what I could. I tried not to look around, I'm sorry, but I can't handle it."

Devan frowned. "Did you see anyone escaping?"

"I didn't look around," Cara repeated, trembling.

He finished re-bandaging me and started spraying Potions onto Rain. "I'll see what's going on after I get this little one taken care of. But for now, we have no choice but to wait."

"Wait? But…" Dread fell through my stomach like a rock. "Ambrosii's probably out there. We can't let them take him!"

Devan sighed. "I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about that. I can't release any of my Pokémon to search for him without risking losing them as well. Hopefully he's in the tent somewhere; we can get to him after all this chaos is over."

"I can't just do that!" I cried. "There's got to be _something!_"

Cara watched me carefully, her face still a mask of fear and disgust from seeing what happened outside.

"You can try to reach out to him mentally. Devan said before that Ambrosii communicated with him using telepathy," she suggested, and I nodded, slightly panicked.

I wasn't really sure how to do that, but I remembered what it felt like before when Ambrosii sent pictures and stories over to me. At first it was as if his mind had invaded mine, forcing images and voices into it, but gradually it turned into our minds simply connecting.

I thought about connecting with him again, and relaxed as I searched for his consciousness. There were other psychic-types in the vicinity, apparently, as I heard voices calling out for names I didn't recognize. Eventually I found him, though. His stoic, warrior mind was analyzing the situation he was in, which was-

"He was knocked onto the ground with a display case pinning his right wing to the floor, and he can't feel his tail thing, but the upper half of his body is underneath a table," I reported, and returned to the situation I was in currently. "He's safe for now." Devan nodded as he turned his attentions to Volt.

"We'll retrieve him once this is over, then," he said calmly. "It looks like Volt's in pretty good condition, other than the normal pain from evolving. He cut the inside of his mouth up, though, but any injuries he sustained before getting in contact with the fire stone must've healed pretty quickly from the evolution."

I nodded. "What happened to Coal?"

"I don't know. When I went to retrieve Rain he was gone," Devan explained.

I tried to listen to what was happening outside, but the walls of the tent were thick enough that I could only hear the dull roar of screams and Pokémon stampeding.

"Well, I'll be right back," Devan announced and cautiously crawled down to the end of the table and pushed his way outside. Cara pulled her knees to her chest and stared after him.

"He's a lunatic," she declared. "An absolute lunatic."

I wasn't sure what to say, so I remained quiet.

"I get that he's supposed to be one of the top trainers in Unova or whatever, but he's an idiot if he thinks he can go out there and get a good grasp of what's going on and return completely unharmed."

Light flooded into the tent and Cara looked up.

"Oh good, he's not as stupid as I thought," she said, but it wasn't Devan who appeared.

It was a Growlithe with a scowl I didn't think such an adorable puppy could pull off. A black band was wrapped around his front paw, and his tail was raised alertly. I paled as it growled.

"Nevermind," Cara said weakly as someone followed it into our hideout. It was a man wearing a black cap and suit with a red "R" printed onto the front of it. He had a headset that he was rapidly speaking into as he approached us. Alise chirped indignantly when the Growlithe reached us and smacked her off of me. She fearlessly whacked it in the face with her wing and climbed on its neck before ferociously pecking it.

The fire Pokémon thrashed about, but Alise held fast, digging her talons deep into its fur. The man ignored the battle and instead went directly after me and Cara. I tried scooting backwards, but he pulled a Pokeball from his waist and let out an Arbok. It glared at me, and I felt myself lock up as it drew closer, hissing. Its eyes were full of hate and anger.

Instead of killing me, though, it sunk its fangs into my shirt collar and dragged me backwards. Alise immediately left the Growlithe, who was looking rather beaten up, and turned into a whirlwind of attacks on the giant snake. I could do nothing but watch as the Arbok easily knocked her out with a flick of its tail. Another one of the cobras appeared and Cara screamed as it rounded on her. The Growlithe was recalled and we were dragged away.

Outside was, as Cara said before, absolute chaos. People kicked and screamed as the men in black suits dragged them into wire cages. A Dragonite hovered overhead, bearing a black band around its leg and holding a bag with the other, which Pokeballs were constantly deposited into. A fleet of black and white birds flew overhead, tranquilized Pokémon in their clutches.

I was eventually tossed into a cage, and would've screamed in pain if I wasn't completely paralyzed. I watched as a man slammed the door to it and placed Cara in one next to me.

I laid there and watched for what felt like hours as the intruders pillaged the festival, stealing everything they possibly could. Devan was eventually caught, but I could do nothing as they stripped him of his Pokémon and threw him into a cage. He didn't seem to be paralyzed, though. Moss, Alise, Rain and Volt were also recovered from the remains of the tent, but I didn't see Ambrosii.

I tried reaching out with my mind again, but almost immediately thousands of psychic voices descended on me.

_"Stay still, Carrier, and don't reach out!"_

_"Keep your thoughts to yourself! We can't lose you!"_

_"You're protected for now. Return to your own mind before the Rocket psychics find you!"_

_"Quiet!"_

I shakily returned to myself, feeling confused and useless. I needed to know where Ambrosii was, and apparently the other psychics didn't want me to search for him.

Just as the sun was starting to set-I had spent _all day_ in that stupid cage-the people were apparently satisfied with what they found and they all climbed aboard massive birds. There were probably about seventy cages of people which were picked up as well, and I spotted more Dragonites with bags of Pokeballs as we took off. Apparently they couldn't recall some of the Pokémon, which remained fainted or asleep in the claws of Flygon.

My stomach dropped when I spotted Moss, Volt and Rain squished together with dragon claws digging into their sides. Alise was carefully nestled into Volt's ever-growing bushy fur, and even though she was obviously fainted, it was good to see her with a Pokémon she'd recognize, even if she didn't particularly like the Eevee.

Slowly the world grew darker, until the only light came from the flashlights the people in black had on them, and I fell asleep.

I woke up on a plank of wood with a crappy pillow stuffed under my head and Devan hovering over me, concern etched into his features. He sighed with relief as I sleepily sat up, and Cara appeared moments later.

"I _told_ you he was going to be okay," she told Devan, lightly slapping his arm. "After all, I turned out alright, didn't I? I woke up earlier than he did without you hovering over me like a Kangaskahn with a sick child."

Devan scowled at her, his face turning pink. "Well sorry, but you're not the one who nearly drowned in Mt. Moon."

"Um," I interjected as Cara opened her mouth to retort, "Yeah, I'm fine, Devan, but where are we?" Looking around revealed that we were in a room with probably five other people, two of which were still asleep.

"I have no idea," he said, shrugging. "I just woke up here and everyone else was still asleep."

"More than likely underground in Lavender," a man said, and we turned to see one of the other people sitting in the corner, a deep frown adorning his narrow face. "The town used to be a maximum-security prison, once upon a time. It was shut down eventually and they built a town over it and turned the aboveground part of the prison into the Pokémon Tower. There's still cells down here, that people were planning on eventually using to extend the cemetery, but then Zager just bought the whole thing a week ago and I wouldn't be surprised if he's the one keeping us down here."

"Zager?" I asked. "Like, Dr. Zager? From Pewter?"

The man nodded. "Yeah. There's something seriously wrong with that guy."

"Why'd he buy it?"

"Didn't you watch the news? He's some nutjob who wants to turn it into a massive science lab. The entire region was in uproar, but damn, that guy's got money, and he bought it anyways. Protests shot up all over the place, but he tossed another couple million bucks at them and they shut up," he explained. "Seems he wants it to be more like a prison than a lab, though."

"Not like anyone has the money anymore to protest," someone else spoke up. A woman with short black hair and an elegant dress rested her head against the wall. "I hate to say anything bad about Kanto, but everything's heading downhill. Stocks are dropping, businesses are dying, the league's running out of money. I haven't received a paycheck in months."

Cara studied her in surprise. "Leader Erika?"

"Yes," the woman said, looking rather sad. "Though I don't really have much to lead anymore. I left the gym for a while to see the festival, and left before they came in. When I reached my gym, the entire thing had burned down. The only Pokémon left alive are my young Bulbasaur and Roserade, who went with me to the festival, and now they're gone."

"Damn," the remaining man said. "They burned down a gym? That takes guts."

"That takes cruelty and heartlessness," Erika corrected. "And cowardice, to do it when I wasn't there to protect everyone.

Devan awkwardly sat down next to me, and Cara huffed before sitting on the floor.

"We were in the Evolution Tent, and when it collapsed, the owner was murdered and I think one of her Eevee died trying to save her," Cara said. "We were lucky to make it under the table, but another Eevee of hers, one highly intent on _not_ evolving, came in contact with a Fire Stone. Her Vaporeon was nearly killed and we had to wrestle her Leafeon from her body."

"Abbi died?" Erika asked quietly.

"A display case fell onto her and snapped her neck," Cara explained, and I noticed her face turn slightly green.

Erika sighed. "She was a good person. May she rest in peace."

The two others came around and everyone introduced themselves. The man who had initially explained that we were in Lavender town was Alfred, and the man who had said that it took guts to burn down a gym was Burt. The two people who woke up were Linda and Henry.

"Well, any idea what we do now?" Burt asked.

"Discuss escape," Linda suggested.

Alfred shook his head. "It's maximum security. We are in a cement room with the only way in or out being a door directly above us. It's only unlockable from above. I would say go for the vents, but the way it's designed is that there's a lot of them, just all really small. We would need Pokémon strong enough to break through the door if we wanted to escape."

"Then we discuss who the hell brought us here and what they want with us," Linda said, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"Well, like I said before, it's more than likely connected to Zager, because he bought the Pokémon Tower and the property under it a week ago," Alfred said, tucking a strand of brown hair behind his ear. He looked and acted like the type of person to wear glasses, and I figured he must've lost them when abducted. "But I don't know what he'd want with the people at the Pokémon festival. I don't know much about him other than he worked in Pewter for a while, is a lunatic, and bought this estate. And he's some sort of doctor."

"He has connections with Giovanni," I offered, and everyone turned to me.

"How do you know this?" Burt asked. "I didn't see it on the news or anything."

"I'm a mailboy. I got assigned to Zager, Giovanni, and a few people I've never met. Butch and Cassidy and Domino or something like that," I explained. "Um, and also, they sent some stuff to Professor Oak, too."

"What'd they send?" Devan asked, and I nearly jumped as I realized how close he was. I awkwardly scooted a few inches away.

"Erm, a couple letters and a package. Oak sent a box to Giovanni before, like right before the whole Dratini abuse case started," I said. "This was all quite a while ago."

"Well, that's a start," Burt said gruffly. "But I don't see what that has to do with us being trapped here."

Alfred glared at him for a second. "If we had more information, it would have a lot more to do with us being trapped here. In fact, this is quite helpful if you really think about it. Henry, you said you were a stock broker, correct?"

Henry, an old frail man who had previously remained silent, nodded. "Yeah."

"How's the market doing?"

"Companies are going broke every day. People are losing tons of money," he said and shrugged. "I _was_ a stock broker. I went into retirement as just about everyone else got laid off. The market's about to crash. Any day now it's all gonna end."

"That has absolutely nothing to do with-" Burt began, but Cara, who sat next to him, smacked him over the head.

"Shut up and listen," she demanded.

"And Erika, any news of what's been happening lately with the league?" Alfred continued.

"I haven't been paid in three months, and Lance has recently fallen ill," she said. "The next conference is cancelled until we can receive more funding, and Johto's not offering much help."

"And Zager appears out of nowhere last week with over a billion dollars to buy out the Pokémon Tower," Alfred repeated. "Nobody could resist the offer because the town, no, the entire _government_, needed the money. Where did he get it all?"

"He didn't seem rich before," I said. "He lived in a little trailer thing and looked like he spent the night out in a thunderstorm."

"The package you delivered to Giovanni from Professor Oak-was it about the right size to hold the Pokeballs for the Dratini?"

"Yeah."

Alfred nodded, looking rather deep in thought.

"Dratini aren't cheap," Linda added. "Giovanni would have to have quite a bit of cash to buy a few of those."

"But Professor Oak's probably failing financially too," Devan added. "He might've sold them on the cheap to get at least a little bit of money."

"What's Lance sick with?" Alfred interrupted.

"I don't know. I offered to help-grass Pokémon can be good with healing-but the Elites said that they didn't think it'd make much of a difference. Nobody's been informed of his symptoms. This was about two weeks ago when we first heard," Erika said.

Something suddenly clanged overhead, and we all looked up as the iron trapdoor above us was opened. I hadn't realized how dim the room was until light suddenly flood in.

"Which one's got the psychics all upset?" someone demanded from up above. The silhouette of a head appeared.

"The two sitting on the bed," he said. "C'mon, you two, right there, get over here!"

Devan stared up at them blankly. "And how do you propose we get out of this room? We don't have wings."

The man muttered something and reappeared moments later with a ladder. Burt immediately tried to go for it, but Linda shoved him back.

"Not now," she whispered as Devan and I clambered up to freedom.

Of course, the feeling didn't last long as they cuffed our wrists and blindfolded us before marching us down what I assumed to be a hallway.

* * *

A/N: Okay, so here's the deal; I have started working on one of the other stories in the series, Musician, but I won't post it until Mailboy is finished. I won't work on Musician a whole lot, but I hope to have the first few chapters done by the end of Mailboy. In the meantime, I'm also posting a story called "Mailboy Holidays" which is just a bunch of mini-stories to go along with Mailboy. Originally I considered adding the stories in Mailboy Holidays in here as interludes, but decided against it. As I still am a beginner when it comes to writing, I wanted some way to practice different styles of writing and decided to do so in Mailboy Holidays, so I didn't think it'd be fitting to put it here. Mailboy Holidays should turn out fairly interesting though, and it'll help expand on the background of characters. I'd appreciate it if you'd take a look at it. More stories will be added to it as we reach more holidays or season changes or whatever I find somewhat interesting.

So yeah. As usual, please let me know what I can do to improve my writing and what I'm doing well. I've been keeping all of your suggestions in mind when writing, but I feel like Mailboy hasn't been turning out as well as it should, so just keep giving me advice and I'll keep trying to improve.


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